Into the Light
by Fossil The Lich
Summary: He knew how the story would end before he arrived and the odds the world faced, so when a man found himself in Earth Bet with the power to change thing, he did his best not to. Now, after the end of the world, he struggles to find purpose while avoiding the cape conflict his sister Lisa insists on being a part of. A Ward self insert story.
1. Chapter 1

If you haven't read Worm, Glow-Worm or Ward past the first few arcs please read those before this, the following story will contain spoilers and I don't want to tarnish your experience reading those. This is intended for mature readers, with similar themes to the source material being explored, I won't go over every potential trigger but if it was brought up in the Parahumans series it will likely show up here.

I'll be updating this slowly as Ward is not finished, but intend to speed up my pace as soon as the series is over.

* * *

I woke slowly to the sounds of birds singing outside my window. Chickadees and robins if I wasn't mistaken. The species were most likely different than the ones I knew growing up but the songs were familiar enough to almost bring a smile to my face.

A little slice of home.

I sat up, glanced around my bedroom, then flopped back down. It was too early to deal with this. Instead I pulled the covers tight around me, half my head sticking out so I could enjoy the morning music while I did my best to ignore the heaps of stuff that surrounded my bed.

There was every chance I would fall back asleep, so I made an effort to keep my eyes open, studying the ceiling as I did.

The round ceiling was supported by logs and wood boards, each with their own irregularity or asymmetry. A spot where two adjoining planks had a wide gap between them had darkened, spotted, mildew creeping into the wood. My inexperience showed in a few other spots.

I needed to fix that before the weather turned wet.

When my urge to pee finally outweighed my desire to hide in bed I groaned, flinging my legs out the side of the massive bed and pushed myself upright.

Indoor plumbing was regularly available these days, but my home predated those developments. Which meant walking through my main living space, out my front door, eyes half shut from the bright light.

"Hi Fossil! Nice pajamas!" A voice shouted out from the garden as I stepped outside.

I lifted a hand to block out the sun, spotting the person who spoke and glancing down to see what I was wearing.

Dragon pajama bottoms and a grey t-shirt. The guy had good taste.

"Thanks Archer, what are you doing here so early?" I asked, walking barefoot towards my outdoor toilet as I spoke.

"It's one in the afternoon!" Archer shouted, holding back laughter at my expense.

Of course it was.

That would explain why the sun was above the tree line around my home.

I didn't say anything more to Archer, hustling into the small stall. My composting toilet was the second structure I had built after my initial cottage and it had been renovated nearly as my times as my house. When the sewer line had reached my area, I had thought I was clever keeping my sewage off grid. Then the world ended and my fear that local infrastructure would completely collapse was unfounded, and I was stuck using an outhouse.

At least it provided fertilizer for the garden.

Leaving the restroom I spotted Archer bending down to grab a handful of cherry tomatoes and placing them in his wicker basket. The area around my house was dotted with raised beds, filled with vegetables I had grown up with and native ones I was in the process of domesticating. All of these were connected by a network of hoses and pipes to form a drip system I didn't end up needing most of the year.

"Make sure to take a couple of those squashes!" I called out. Archer stood up and frowned at me, the unapologetic sass of a teenager. "What? I thought you liked those."

"I did, but we've had squash every other night for two weeks." Archer grumbled. "Mom is trying all these weird recipes to mix it up."

"Yeah, I hear you. Maybe see if anyone wants to trade with you for something else. They'll go bad if you don't take them." I said, meandering between the beds. "I think the nitrogen levels in the soil are off though. When I chop in the leaves this fall I'm thinking of mixing in some coffee grounds. I used beans early on in the year, but it looks like they weren't doing enough. Of course coffee grounds are way too expensive these days, what with…"

Archer rolled his eyes, looking all too much like someone from a lifetime ago. A reminder of the hole left behind by their passing.

The little things were the worst sometimes.

Archer didn't say anything about me zoning out. Everyone was all too familiar with those moments when grief would bubble up to the surface and everyone was sick of the old scripts people used to offer comfort.

Sniffing, I shook my head, "How is your grandpa? Feeling better?"

"Yeah! His coughing stopped right away. He said to send his thanks, and said to ask for you to pass on his thanks to that cape." Archer said, perking up.

"I'll be sure to pass that along, just don't spread it around. Capes with healing powers are rare and I don't want anyone going through you to find him." I said. "Excited about school starting?"

Archer's eyes darted away from my face, fast enough I wouldn't have caught it if I wasn't looking at him.

"Sure, yeah, should be fun."

"What's wrong Archer?"

He looked towards the heavy gate to the outside world, most likely left ajar from when he arrived here. I could spot a mixture of anxiety, guilt, and curiosity in his face.

"Chell and I have been talking, we.. I don't think we're gonna do farming after school." Archer said apologetically.

"I thought you were excited about that, what are you doing instead?" I knew the answer, even without the ability to read minds I knew exactly where his thoughts were going. I just didn't want to be right.

"We were gonna try out for patrol group." Archer said.

I let out a sigh. "It is your decision, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't. You're a great farmer, you practically run this garden while I'm lazing around and I'm positive you'd excel with any farm you were assigned with. It would be reliable work, a source of food built into your job, you would get to be outdoors. Why patrol block?"

"Chell said that one of the older students said you get told more about capes if you join, that they tell you what actually happened on.. you know."

Gold Morning.

The word stood out in his head, even with my exercises at blocking out other people's thoughts I could feel his memories, snippets of screaming, panic, dread and a great unknowing. His world had ended and he didn't know why, no one he talked to knew why.

Almost no one.

I felt numb, thinking of that day and the days that lead up to it, followed by thoughts of eyes and tree trunk limbs and twisting claws and feathered wings.

"Hey..hey Fossil, I'm sorry I brought it up. It's gonna be okay." Archer had put down the basket and crossed the garden to me, hand on my shoulder.

I had been holding my breath without even noticing, hands shaking uncontrollably at my side.

"I'm fine, no need to worry." I said, waving Archer off, raising a hand to cover my mouth as I yawned. I distracted myself by thinking how much he had grown. When he and his family had first arrived in New Brockton he had been a tiny wide eyed child, among countless other children adrift in a new Earth. My property had become a hang out spot during those early months, an island of calm in a rapidly developing landscape. One or two of the parents would help me keep watch over the dozens of children that played in my young orchards, gardens and the playground I had hastily set up in the early days. Most kids had moved on as things had settled, but a few older ones had stuck around to help me maintain the gardens. Archer, Chell, Kim, Sal. Anne before she graduated high school. A few others.

Poor nutrition in the first winter meant that a lot of children didn't grow, or had visible symptoms of malnutrition as they did. Archer had grown like a weed, creeping up to my chin, not even at his first year of high school.

"Are the others signing up for patrol block as well?" I said, putting conscious thought towards regulating my breathing.

"Chell is, Kim is on the fence but I think she'll go wherever Chell does. Sal is sticking with farming but he has a year to go still." Archer said.

I had half a mind to tell him right here what happened in those last days, the way it played out, if it would keep him and the others from joining patrol. Keep them from an unforgiving life.

I could draw on the story version, hiding my own contributions to the fight, but it would expose me as someone who knew. Archer wouldn't tell anyone if I asked him not to, but powers meant he could still be vulnerable.

"What if I find out for you? I can go to the school, find out what they teach the patrol so you all don't have to do it. How does that sound?" I said, nervous he would take me up on the offer. Nervous that he wouldn't.

"Are you sure? I know you don't like talking about it. If it would be too hard for you…" Archer trailed off. He wanted me to, his expression contradicting his words.

"Would it keep you from patrol block?" I said, with as much steel as I could muster.

Archer contemplated for a moment. I became uncomfortably aware of a drop of sweat rolling it's way down my forehead, replaced by another as I wiped it away.

"Yeah. I mean yes it would. I can pass it on to the others as well." He said.

"Good, after work I'll go swing by the school. I might run long so if you need help gathering peaches get Kimberly to help you." I said.

I nodded, breaking away to head inside.

"Oh! Stop feeding Humphrey and the other squirrels, the cats are going to catch him if he gets any fatter!" I shouted at Archer from the doorway.

Archer waved in acknowledgment and I stepped inside.

Returning to bed seemed more appealing for every second I looked at the mess before me. The central room of the house was the largest of the three, the diameter twice that of the two smaller rooms. I had built this room in my second year here and the quality was considerably better than my bedroom. A dozen wooden beams held up the ceiling, radiating like spokes on a wagon wheel, made by hand and showing few of the blemishes and mistakes of my first attempt. Glass bottles and tiles were fitted into the compacted earth walls, allowing prismatic rays of light to stream through at the right times of day. Unlike my bedroom the cob plaster hadn't pulled away from the two window frames, blending the circular windows into the walls. It all came together to a quality home I was still proud of.

Quality that was hidden beneath the chaos.

Piles of unfolded laundry had been heaped on the couches that were arranged in a central ring, laundry I had promised myself that would only live there for a few days. Dozens of art projects, wooden toys, knick knacks and tools overflowed from the tables that lined the outer wall into the gaps between the couches. Things I couldn't part with, things I knew I didn't have the space for.

The only empty places were pathways to the kitchen and bedroom, and the mouth of the fireplace. I wasn't going to let my stuff be burned down.

I waded to a couch, stepping over spools of pinecone garland, slices of wood with hand prints drawn on with crayons, glass jars filled with native flower dyes.

Stretching my arm out, I snagged a pair of work pants, wrinkled t-shirt and a light button up from the nearest couch, along with underwear and a pair of socks. Then I made my trek back to the bedroom.

With Archer here I had missed my window for a morning shower. Afternoon shower, whatever.

Instead I flexed, calling upon a facet of my power. My skin tingled as the change spread across the surface of my body, a faint buzz similar to the feeling of reading thoughts, though physical instead of mental. To the naked eye the change was subtle, almost undetectable. On the microscopic level my epidermis was restructuring to accommodate a feature it was not evolved to handle. Dead skin was reabsorbed, sweat and dirt pulled into my body and converted into something else.

Thankfully I didn't need a reference for this, turning into a variant of myself was intuitive, and comforting, like putting on a favorite coat.

It was over in a second, my own instant shower. The only downside was that my beard was still sticking to the side from where I had slept on it.

I changed into my clean clothing and snagged my phone from the bedside shelf it was perched on. Wallet and keys followed the phone into my pockets.

Feeling somewhat put together, I left my house. I waved to Archer again in passing, meandering along the gravel path to the front gate.

Beyond the gate, the path was lined with thick hedges, obscuring sight and sound from the outside world. It wrapped around my property, acting as an extra buffer for my home. The walk around to the exterior gate was a little inconvenient, but I felt the extra privacy was worth the tradeoff. Just inside of the exterior gate was a small brick shed, nestled into the hedges.

I was mid step when someone came into my mental awareness, another consciousness. Another me. Not something I was expecting, but it never was. They were nearby, I could tell, but that was relative. As long as we were in the same reality any copies of myself were telepathically linked, no matter the physical distance.

"Everything alright?" I said to the other me, telepathically.

"Yeah, it's fine, just popping in for something." They replied.

Well alright then. They would explain more if I needed to know.

I ignored their presence and continued my walk keys jingling as I approached to the shed, hand reaching for the padlock.

"Excuse me, are you open today?"

I had been distracted by the arrival of another me, so much so that I didn't notice the small group outside my front gate.

"What? I'm sorry but what are you talking about?" I said to the elderly man on the other side of the wrought iron gate.

"The sign says this is a historical site." The man said, as if that gave him permission to tour my home. A few small children were playing some sort of game behind him, occupying themselves by racing around the sign in question. Too young to help with the reconstruction, the man was likely too old to do the same. Probably a grandparent or neighbor watching over the kids while the parents were working.

I held back a sigh, it wasn't the man's fault for the confusion. It was the person responsible for putting up that sign. The dork.

"Yes the sign is correct, this is where the first building in the city was built. This is a private residence however, it isn't available to the public." I said. "If you walk about a half mile down the hill there is a public library if you are looking for a place to entertain the kids. Most of it is still under construction, but the front portion is open."

"We just came from there, are you certain we can't see the building?" The man said through the gate.

"It isn't available to the public." I repeated.

The man's eyes fell, giving me the impression that this was more important to him than the children half paying attention to our exchange.

"Of course, I'm sorry for wasting your time young man." He said, turning to the group, "Looks like we'll be going to Zachary's early."

The kids didn't seem phased by the change of plans, but the man sagged, showing his age with every step.

I was tempted to read into why he was so invested in seeing my house, but held off to practice skills that had atrophied from lack of practice and years of isolation. Did he see my home as a monument to humanities history? Their new future? Anything more than some man's attempt at living in the backwoods of an alternate earth while waiting for the world's end to play out as it needed to.

He looked...

He looked so tired.

"Wait."

The man paused, kids turning to watch as I unlocked the front gate.

"I'll give you a tour around the grounds, just don't spread it around that I gave you one." I said, looking around to see if anyone on the street was paying attention.

The old man smiled.

It was an hour later when I reopened the front gate to let them out. The tour had performed a reversal on the group, the kids were tired, dragging their shoes in the gravel and making exaggerated sounds of exhaustion, while the old man was lighter on his feet.

"Thank you again for going out of your way. The kids loved it." He said.

"No problem, the playground wasn't getting enough use as is." I said.

He reached out to shake my hand, "take care of yourself."

"You too," I said, shaking his hand.

He left, shuffling along to catch up with his grandkids.

I watched them go, looking out over the city's skyline and the bay beyond.

Smog plumes rose from all corners of the New Brockton settlement, swirling streams that joined the clouds above. What few skyscrapers had been put up glittered in the afternoon light, their windows a mix of traditional glass and gold tinted solar panels.

Even a foot outside my gate, the sounds of activity were overwhelming, driving me to retreat back to the gate. I locked it behind me and went to the shed.

Unlocking the door, I stepped inside the cramped space. It had a single light bulb to illuminate the interior as I closed and locked the door behind me and slid the four heavy bolt locks into place. One of the walls was covered in shelves, a few tools hung from the other walls for maintaining the gravel path and such, but they weren't the main reason for the shed. The mirror at head height was.

The kids had known I worked with capes, knew that this was my 'work entrance'. From what I picked up in their surface thoughts, they believed I had a secret passage beneath the shed that connected to an elaborate system of tunnels. Somewhere in that twisted maze was the base of the capes I worked with, on those days I disappeared and left the gardening to them.

I wish I did have a secret underground base.

I felt along the side of the mirror, finding the latch and flipping it. A soft tug caused the mirror to swing forward, revealing a shallow opening containing a lone journal. Taking out the journal, I pushed the mirror back until it was barely ajar.

The first few pages of the notebook were maps, an overview of the city, individual spans and stretches. Things were changing often enough that I had taken to drawing in new labels and areas as they sprung up around the city, rather than going to the library to print a new map every few days. Addresses of specific locations and sites of interest followed the maps.

The next few pages were old photos, pictures and paintings from history books and records of people long dead. Flipping through, I found a photo of a parade, taken in nineteen twenty one. I picked a man from the crowd that looked to by my height and build.

I shifted. Flesh rearranged, hairs lengthened and shortened, bones softened to make the adjustments needed for the transformation. The process was painless, if a little discombobulating when surprises pop up.

For example, the man I had chosen was red green color blind apparently. I let my eyes revert back to my own, trusting I wouldn't encounter any Thinkers who could identify me by eyes alone on my first errand of the day.

His appearance didn't matter much for my purposes beyond being someone I wouldn't accidentally bump into while borrowing their face, but I took a moment anyway to examine myself. Lumpy chin, thick brow that protruded slightly, small forehead, pasty skin. He looked gruff, thuggish. Not my usual choice but it would work for today's job.

Flipping through the notebook again, I passed the section of portraits and searched for outfits. I moved through pages of clothing until I spotted what I wanted, an image of a black business suit, something that not many could afford these days.

A thought was all it took for the clothes to appear in my hand.

Setting the journal down, I undressed, folding up my own clothes and placing them on the shelves. The pants and undershirt fit, the jacket didn't. Dismissing the jacket, I conjured a new one, measurements corrected.

Got it on the second try this time.

I locked the journal behind the mirror and examined myself once more, tugging at the suit in places where it bunched until everything fit properly. First contacts made me nervous, even though I had done it a few times now, this was the point when I felt things could go wrong.

I looked like a hired thug, someone who could take a punch to the face and still stand, but was paid well enough to afford old world clothing, good clothing. At least that was the conclusion I hoped my contact would come to.

Somewhat satisfied with my disguise, I drew upon my powers once more. Destination firmly in my mind, I willed a gate into existence. Just below the ceiling a break in reality split open, a black plane, branching away in geometric roots away from a swirling center. Blue veins glowed against the portals light consuming outline, forming a vortex in the middle and a grid like pattern near the edges.

The portal drew me in, twisting me in a spiral that matched the openings pace, faster and faster until I breached the surface. For the first few times it made me sick, spinning so quickly. On my very first trip vomited on arrival. This time I had no such problem.

I was met by gasps as I dropped out of a matching portal into an occupied loading dock. The portal faded in square chunks from the outside inward as I touched down on the concrete floor. A half dozen people watched me, recoiling from my sudden appearance.

"Who's in charge?" I asked the nearest person, intentionally altering the way I talked. It wasn't an accent per say, I wasn't talented enough to pull that off, but with how my current form had a bit of a rasp it should throw off anyone from recognizing my true voice.

Hopefully.

"I am." A middle aged woman stepped forward, uniform put together but her eyes revealed a deep tiredness. She had an air of confidence, head held high, back straight. It would have been a convincing front if I couldn't detect the undercurrent of nervousness in her thoughts. Her name tag read Mari Geison, Store Manager. "You're late, we had the dock clear for you an hour ago."

"Busy times, a lot of people need the services my employer provides." I said, nodding to pallets around the dock, "Is this the product?"

"Yes, all the canned goods for the week." Mari said. The other employees were leaving the loading dock as we talked.

"Not much here."

"That's why we reached out, there are more farms than last year, but they can't keep up with the new folk coming from Bet."

"You shouldn't have known to reach out." I said, scowling. I made a show of looking around the loading dock, stalking around, looking in corners and behind the pallets of cans. It was for show, if someone was hiding here I would have detected them in at least two different ways by now.

"That's...I'm sorry, I didn't know." I hated making her nervous, but with her attempt at contacting me, I had to play the role.

"Not your fault Mari." Saying it in a way where it could still have been her fault. I looked at her as I said her name. "My employers are private people, very private. The fact that you heard something means someone is talking when they shouldn't."

Mari nodded, "How do we do this then? I'm new to this whole.. cape business." She gestured to the air with her hand.

I wanted to smile, do something calm her down. Instead I circled around over to her, looking around as I did, scowl still on my face, brow furrowed.

Barriers were lowered, and a flood of information crashed into my brain, inner thoughts, imaginings, undercurrents of emotions. It was a lot, but it was just one human mind. I could handle one human mind.

Mari was nervous, but I knew that from my surface readings of her. She was curious as well, not curious enough to voice her other questions about my work, at least at the moment. She also showed no sign or thought of betrayal, so I continued to play my role.

"You pay the house call fee, five thousand Trade Dollars up front. While you are getting that I confirm the location is secure. Is that camera working?" I said, pointing at the security camera by the bay door.

"It is, but nobody is monitoring the footage." Mari said.

"Turn it off, I'll cover it and you can uncover it after we leave. After you pay and leave I make a call and my employers will teleport in, do their thing, teleport out. You'll get a text when it is clear. You change your books, add an extra zero to all the products received, whatever it takes to make it look like an error in the system. Things are hectic enough no one should be digging into a happy mystery."

"That's it, no other strings?" Mari looked more concerned. "I mean, I just want to know if there are any other… expectations."

"You are expected to stay quiet, no more signs asking for the capes helping with food supply. Like I said, my employers are private people."

"What's it like? Working with capes?" She was whispering, casting around looks as if we were part of a conspiracy. I didn't know what I was doing that made her ask, but apparently I wasn't being intimidating enough. Or Mari was the type of person who would let her curiosity get the best of her. Beyond finding out if she was going to betray me or my 'employers' I didn't want to violate her mental privacy, at least not to sate my own curiosity.

"I'm paid not to talk Mari. Get the cash. Knock before entering." I said.

"Right, I'm sorry. I'll be back in a sec." With that she hurried from the room and I propped a chair under the door handle behind her, bracing the door closed..

That done, I moved to the bay door, tugging on the chain next to it. The door rattled its way down, thudding hard against the pavement. I hopped down the ledge to the bottom of the bay and latched the bay door.

The camera was a good twenty feet above the ground, angled such that it had nearly complete coverage of the loading bay. Except for directly below it. Checking again to make sure it couldn't see me, I drifted upwards, using one of the forms of levitation I had at my disposal. Once I was close enough, I conjured a thick cloth and draped it over the lens, conjuring a rubber band to hold it in place.

Room secure, I drifted over towards the door, touching down on the ground right next to the chair I had used to brace the door. The knock came just after I withdrew the chair.

"Five thousand trade dollars. I hope it's okay, I had to use smaller bills for the last thousand." Mari said after she entered the room, handing me the stack of cash.

"It's fine." I began counting the cash, not that it mattered much that I had all of it. Most of it was going to end up in the store's tip jars over the next couple of weeks any way.

"Money checks out." When I finished counting, I looked at Mari dead in the eyes, "It's like any other job."

"Excuse me?"

"Your question. Working with capes is like any other job. You've got good bosses and bad bosses, good people and the people who abuse the power they have over you. With capes the stakes are just higher, that's all."

"Sounds so mundane, when you say it like that." Mari said, her tone one of disappointment, "Is there anything else you need?"

"No." I said. "If you wish to purchase my employer's services again text the number we give you the all clear from."

"Right, I will." Mari said, shifting in place. She gestured towards the door. "I guess I should.."

"Yes."

"Right, I'll leave you to it." She closed the door behind her.

I waved a hand, a monolithic block of iron appearing in front of the door, ensuring no one was entering that way without powers or a wrecking ball.

The pallets were next my next focus. I dectupled each pallet, filling up the loading bay with conjured food. One by one, new stacks of cans popped into existence without a sound or fanfare.

With the work done, I sat down and waited, maintaining the illusion that this took time. When I felt I had waited long enough, I sent a text to the store's number I had looked up earlier with my 'work' phone, dismissed the block of iron and teleported back to my shed, cash in hand.

I would sort through the cash later, pick out a few hundred dollars for paying bills and spending money, a few hundred to donate to causes I felt important, the rest back to the store. My attempts at offering to duplicate food for free had been met with rejection and suspicion, enough so that this work around had been my eventual solution.

Job done, I repeated my process of disguising, though this time it was a form I had taken on in the past. Heavy boots, thick work pants, a tank top and work gloves replaced the business attire I had worn. The form I took was taller too, muscular in a way that a regular person would take half a life time to achieve. Square jaw, short brown hair, a neck wider than my face. All in all, this form screamed cape in civilian clothing.

I checked the map again, even though I had made this trip a dozen or so times, I couldn't trust my memory.

The faint crackle of the portal was overwhelmed by the sound of hammers, engines and voices shouting. There was no shade to be seen, the hot summer sun beating down on the apartment complex's skeleton. Sunscreen and sweat mixed with dust, tickling my nose as I stepped off my designated portal point.

"Well, well, John Doe! Haven't seen you in a while. Thought you bailed on us." One of the workers called out as he passed, pushing a wheelbarrow that sagged from the load of cement mix bags within. I recognized his face, but his name eluded me. It didn't help that his hard hat didn't have his name like it should.

"Been busy." I said, "Is Ted around?"

"Might be in his office. Hey Ev, you seen Ted?" The man called out to a woman leaning over a table covered in blue prints.

Ev looked up at the man, then to me, her eyes obscured by dusty safety glasses. "Welcome back stranger." She said with a grin.

"Glad to be back, things are crazy out there." I said, then pointed up to the complex, "It's coming along pretty quick."

"Not too quick, we're taking our time on this one. None of that leaky shit some others are putting up, my kids are gonna live somewhere nice." Ev said, swelling with pride and excitement. She put her hands on her hips, looking up at the complex with a smile.

"You sticking around this time? Be nice to get outta the tents sooner." The man asked me.

"We'll see what Ted has to say, lots of folks need help. Office?" I said, nodding in the direction of the office.

"Oh sure hun, he should be in there. Happy for any help you have to give." Ev said.

I thanked her and moved towards the office. Even with the din of construction I couldn't help but overhear them.

"Why are you so buddy buddy with him Ev?"

"I'm that way with everyone Patrick, why change now?"

"He's a cape Ev. He doesn't follow a schedule, just shows up when he pleases. No accountability."

"John's volunteering his time, last I heard he isn't getting anything in exchange for that."

"How do we know that…"

I reverted my ears back to normal, letting their voices fade into the cacophony. There was so much good that could have come from powers and parahumans had ruined it. Correction, the entities had ruined it.

I nearly bumped into the door of the mobile office, parked at the edge of the lot. Three sharp raps on the door later, I heard a voice call me in.

"Hey John, glad to see you. Anne can we hold this off for the time being?" Ted said to the familiar woman in his office.

Anne nodded, her hair bobbing as she did. She had tanned since I had seen her last, looked more mature as well. The quiet teen who helped watch over the kids, taught them carpentry skills I hadn't picked up in my years of construction, now a young woman building a future for herself.

I held back a smile, but couldn't keep my cheeks from raising.

"Excuse me," Anne said, gesturing past me.

"Sorry, forget how much space I take up sometimes." I said, stepping to the side.

It had been too long since I reached out. I needed to see her sometime, wearing my own face. Ask her the million questions I wanted to know, about her life, how she was doing, tell her about the others, how the garden was coming along.

"Could you close the door there John, there's something we need to discuss in private." Ted said.

I complied, studying his face as I did. Ted wasn't a serious fellow, leading with enthusiasm and hope in the wake of the end of the world. Smooth bald head, heavy frame, dirty office attire because he refused to stay behind the desk. With that in mind, the creases around his eyes, his pursed lips, the undercurrent of anxiety in his mind, it made me worry.

Had tension with capes gotten so bad he couldn't allow me to continue helping.

"First off, it's a relief to see you. I was worried you had finally gotten caught up in a fight, got yourself hurt." Ted said, settling into the chair behind his office.

"You don't have to worry about that. Crime fighting will never be my thing, I'd much prefer to build, or haul as the case may be. Besides villains have been laying low for two years, holding to the amnesty for the most part, I don't see that changing soon." I said.

"And we are all thankful for that. That does remind me, can you come in tomorrow at four AM, we've got a shipment for the fourth floor coming in. If you could help, it would save my crew a day of stair carry." Ted said, tapping his hands on his desk.

"I can do that, shouldn't be a problem."

"Good, that's good. Really good."

"That wasn't what you wanted to talk about was it?" I asked.

Ted's face fell, nervousness swelling.

"What I'm about to tell you, I need you to keep quiet. I could lose my job, a lot could go wrong if this gets out before the final decision is made. I need your word that you won't tell a soul."

"You have it, I'm in this to help."

Ted nodded, glancing out the window between the shades.

"Upper management has been in discussion for weeks, talking about the employee housing priority benefits. There is a lot of pressure to take those away, put all current and future housing units on the market instead of only a portion of them." He sighed, rocking in his chair. "We can barely afford to pay our workers enough as is, and they don't complain because they think they'll get out of the tent cities before winter. Most wouldn't be able to afford housing for years if they had to pay market price, heck with how many new people come to the city every day some might be retired before they could get out of the tent cities. If Mortari did this company wide, it would be a shitshow as it is, but I've heard through some contacts that RBR might change their equivalent policy at the same time."

"So the workers can't just switch companies to keep the benefits."

"Exactly. Some of the other construction groups might be in on it as well, who knows." Ted said.

"That's awful, they can't think that will go well." I said.

"I won't pretend to know what their thinking." Ted said.

"Why tell me though? I help unload, move stuff when your crane is out of commission. I don't have any pull in this." He couldn't know my connection to Sierra, not that I had spoken to her for years. She might not even remember me, what with everything going on when I first showed up in Bet. A single voice on the board of RBR wouldn't be enough even if I could convince her, even with her position as a mayoral candidate.

"If this happens, the workers aren't going to roll over and take it. They'll protest, march at the very least. I'd join them too." He balled his first, setting it on his desk. "If it comes to that, can I count on you to show up on our side."

Cape backup, that's what he wanted.

"I'm with you, if they pull that bullshit, I'll be shoulder to shoulder with you." Ted's shoulders lowered, tension releasing all at once.

"That said, I'm not getting in a cape fight for this. I've been there, done that and I'm not doing it again. If the Wardens have to come in to break up protests, I'll help them before I fight them." I said.

Ted's face flushed, wrinkles deepened. The vein on his forehead protruded as I spoke.

"So you'll help your own before us then. Should have known."

"Hey, I didn't say that. I'm telling you that if you want me to fight the Wardens and whatever other hero teams they pull in you can forget it."

"That's what they'll do! If we get too organized, if we get too much power they take it away! I was there, when they put down riots back home, they pulled the same horse shit then and they'll do it again, just the names and faces have changed. You all haven't changed a lick."

He had risen to his feet, accent creeping in as his voice rose.

"I'm not them, I volunteer with construction, help with farming. I. Don't. Fight." I punctuated each word, though kept my volume down.

"Get off my job site." Ted growled.

I didn't say a word, conjuring a portal, I allowed the tug to pull me through, warping me across the city back to my shed. The singular bulb buzzed above me.

I tried not to take it personally. Resentment was building, even with the rapport I had built with different contractors over the last year, most had snapped at me, insulted me, kicked me off the site. Probably because I was someone with power who they were confident wouldn't lash out at them.

I didn't have it in me to check and be proven wrong.

I dropped my disguise, oversized clothes hanging off of me. My true face looked back at me in the mirror.

The dark circles under my eyes had faded slightly after my fifteen hour sleep, though they showed the exhaustion I felt post confrontation. Red, brown and blonde beard hair flowed from my face in curls and waves, reaching my collarbone and spiraling towards my right shoulder. Blonde hair cascaded around my head and face, reaching my shoulders. Long ago I had kept it short, but with how much I went out in other forms I had neglected to keep my own hair a manageable length. A hairy mess, hiding the person beneath.

The tank top from my cape disguise dangled off my wide shoulders, exposing muscular arms, pasty white despite the season. I had once been lean and tall, but powers meant any muscle mass I gained wasn't lost with time and what was gained was gained quickly and dramatically. No reason to work out any more.

Why had I told Archer I'd go to his school today? I was so done with people for the day, for the year.

I wanted to go back to bed.

Wanted to do so, so much that I drew upon a power I resented using.

I stepped forward, reality shredding in a me shaped hole, edges flapping from the atmosphere flowing into the void. Glancing back, I watched as the hole sealed behind me, just to be sure nothing or no one followed me.

The hole sealed, taking the last pinpricks of light with it.

To my eyes blackness was everywhere, a black that my eyes could even process. Dull patterns swam across my vision, ocular organs struggling to understand something not meant to be fully understood.

Thankfully I didn't need my eyes to sense what I was looking for.

A vast river lazily flowed through the darkness, countless streams and trickles branching away like tree limbs. They in turn branched, and again and again beyond measure. My senses didn't extend far, just to the nearest flow and the offsprings, but I knew there were many others like this beyond my view.

I could feel them, other places I had been, will be, could have been, out in the void. Tiny lighthouses in an ocean of time and space, guiding me to safety.

The world I came from was out there somewhere, I just couldn't go back.

I drew upon my strongest levitation power, overpowering the immense forces holding me frozen in place, dragging my body in a direction it wasn't meant to go. Through this nowhere place I crawled upstream and plunged back into reality, tearing another me shaped hole, this time near the ceiling in my bedroom.

Floating slightly over, I lowered the power to my levitation and fell slowly down, onto my bed.

"Everything alright?" My voice said in my head.

"Yeah, it's fine, just popping in for something." I replied.

There wasn't a response, just like I knew there wouldn't be. I wrapped my blankets around me tighter, putting a pillow over my ears when the sound of kids chattering outdoors became loud enough to keep me awake.

As I drifted off to sleep, my mind wandered. I watched through my past self's eyes, as he gave the tour to the old man. He was talking about the techniques we used to garden the first year we settled out here. Halfway through the conversation one of the kids spotted the playground we had set up the fall before last and they all rushed over to play on it.

My body slept and my mind continued watching as he saw the group off, multiplied food, talked with Ted and returned more tired than before.

I was still drained, but I had promised.

I woke myself up, groggy from the short nap. Peeling off my oversized clothes, I dismissed them and dressed myself yet again to face the day. A quick peek outside showed that no one was looking, so I portaled straight from my home to the roof of a building I was familiar with near New Brockton High. Seconds later, my past self broke through the fabric beyond realities.

New Brockton High was a nice school, even though most other buildings in the neighborhood had a functional tilt at the expense of aesthetics, the school had both. Brick was alternated with large gold tinted windows, covered walkways connected the main building to the adjoining wings and murals had been put up on the majority of open space. It predated Gold Morning, and I wouldn't be surprised if my sister had a hand in making sure extra funding had been shifted to the local schools before and after everything had gone to hell.

It didn't mean it had all the solutions however.

"No, there isn't much to tell. Our Patrol Group program is newer than most. We are only starting it this year and our Patrol Block Captain is still settling in." Principal Knott said, leaning back in her chair. "I can understand your concerns, even though Patrol Group is expected to disengage if a situation becomes hostile there is an inherent danger working with or around capes."

The situation felt too similar to my conversation with Ted, talking about the dangers of capes.

"Do you have an idea when the Captain will be open to talking?"

"I do not, he was a Junior Captain near the New York central area, I believe he is still unpacking from the move."

"Gotcha, and school starts on the…" I trailed off.

"Seventh of next month."

"Right, so I have a little over two weeks. I guess I'll check in next week if that works for you?" I said, hands on the arms of the chair, readying to stand.

"One moment, there might be another option, if you don't mind a bit of a trip." She said.

"Shouldn't be an issue, what are you thinking?" I said.

"I've heard good things about the Bridgeport Patrol, based out of Wayfair High School. They have a cape expert working for them, we were planning on reaching out and inviting her to talk to our group later in the year." She explained. "You'd want to call ahead, what with the commute, but they should be open by this point. Though they'd be closed by the time you'd get there today."

"Thank you, I'll check them out and come back in a few days if that doesn't work out."

"Oh, if you are looking for what is publically available about capes and.. that day, I doubt you'd find a better source than that, save the Wardens." She said, looking a little choked up. She composed herself and continued, "You are welcome to come back any time, however I can't promise I'll be able to meet in person once the school year starts."

"Thank you again, I'll be sure to do so at some point in the school year."

I put on my sunglasses before exiting the school, bracing myself as I pushed open the door.

The heat felt all the more oppressive on leaving the air conditioned hallways of New Brockton High.

I was fireproof, hell I could be lava proof at that and the humid warmth still felt miserable. Being in public without a disguise meant I couldn't shift into a more comfortable form without drawing unwanted attention. This wasn't a dimension where glasses were all it took to hide one's identity.

I hopped down the wide steps of the school's front entrance two at a time. Across the street was a warehouse that had seen better days, the brick walls covered in a mural of blue mountains that faded into indigo ocean waves. Probably was used for materials when the area was first being built, but had fallen out of use as the city spread away from the original Brockton Bay portal, new warehouses popping up as needed.

Not many people were around, enough that I couldn't teleport in the middle of the street, but few enough that an alley in the shadow of the warehouse was sufficient to hide me from view.

Portal created, I went through, arriving a hundred miles southwest of where I had been standing.

And a mile up.

I called upon a levitation power, a minor one, that left me gently floating in air as if I was underwater. The wind drowned out the sounds of the city at this height and nearly tore the sunglasses from my face. Even with the direct sun exposure, it was cold, nearly freezing. Much more comfortable.

Few capes flew this high, I was probably one of the few in the city with a form of flight, cold resistance and could handle the sudden pressure change. Even so I glanced around for anyone nearby, just to be sure.

Satisfied with my privacy, I began to drift lower, looking for a suitable landing spot.

The Bridgeport span looked to be around ten miles of glittering gold towers and sprawling residential complexes just inland of the coastal estuaries, marshes and inlets that had largely been filled in Earth Bet.

And my home world.

The farm land on the western end was an ideal touchdown point for privacy, but it was too far off to be a practical one regarding time. Thankfully I was good with navigating from a top down view.

I conjured another portal, reappearing on the highest skyscraper I could see near the neighborhood the school should be in. The wind wasn't as bad here, but I still held a hand by the side of my face, ready to grab my sunglasses as needed.

Walking between the solar panel arrays covering the rooftop, I inched towards the railing, peeking over the edge. The cars on the road below looked like insects, the people barely noticeable outside of a crowd. My stomach flipped, dizziness urging me to back away from the drop.

I could hover thousands of feet in the air and not blink an eye. Edge of a tall building and my fear of heights became nearly crippling.

I pushed through, knees feeling weak. Tearing my eyes from the street below, I pulled the folded paper from my pocket slowly, the semi-updated map of Bridgeport. Wayfair Highschool didn't have something as convenient as a name in large letters on the side of the building, but it's location was deducible from its position relative to the coastline. Picking it out from the landscape of buildings, I warped to the roof.

A few minutes waiting for people to pass, I warped to a shaded alcove, out of sight.

Wayfair Highschool was post Gold Morning and it showed. Less attention had been given to appearance, and more to getting a big blocky brick building up as quickly as possible to house the next generation a few hours a day.

When I walked through the front doors there was air conditioning, but it barely made a difference.

I was directed towards the Patrol Block Captain's office by a woman who hadn't stopped speed walking down the hall even as she gave me directions. The office door was partially glass, textured or a layer applied to obscure details, but I could still tell someone was inside.

I knocked.

"Come in," A gruff voice called out.

Entering the room, I held back a sigh. My meetings with Ted and Principal Knott did not end the way I had hoped, but both had an air of welcoming when I first arrived.

This man did not.

He was frowning, bushy eyebrows nearly obscuring his appraising gaze. The impression he gave was ex-military and the texture of his surface thoughts made me think PRT specifically, someone trained to compartmentalize their thinking as a safeguard against Masters and Strangers. His bald head was beaded with sweat.

"What do you need?" He said.

"Hello.." I scanned for his name tag, "Captain Gilpatrick. I wanted to ask about the Patrol Group Program. Some of the kids I watch over are going into highschool this year, and are planning on going into Patrol. What sort of information are they given about capes and cape involved events as part of the program?"

"Less than the students who don't join the parol, we give priority access to our records for those outside our program. Anything else?" The Captain said.

"That's...that's good to hear." I said, letting out a sigh. "I've been trying to convince them to go into the farming work study program instead, they just.. they have a lot of questions and thought Patrol block would have the answers."

Gilpatrick nodded, expression softening, "A lot of them think the same thing."

"Could I see the records? I know it's for students, but I want to bring at least some facts back for the kids, show I did the leg work." I said.

"I'll call our cape expert, if she is up for a visitor I don't have a problem with it." He said, pulling out his phone.

I nodded, tuning out Gilpatrick as he made the call.

"What's your name son." He said.

"Fossil." I replied.

He repeated the name into the phone, made a noise of agreement and hung up.

"She said it is alright with her." He said, "Her office is across the street, above the showers. The stairway is on the outside of the building. If you get lost ask for Victoria's office."

"Thank you Captain."

"You're welcome." He said, "Sorry for the less than warm welcome. I just got off the phone with the third angry parent of the day, expected you might be the fourth."

"Oh I've been there, no worries. Hopefully it stays at three today."

I left his office, the empty hallways echoing with the sound of my footsteps.

After I left the building, I ended up needing to loop halfway around the school before I spotted the showers with the outdoor stairway. The wood creaked as I walked up to the door, entering the office.

The first thing my eyes fell on was stunning. An entire wall filled with binders, magazines, books and more. PRT Confidential, Costumes Under Clothes and Case Zero were just a few of the titles I picked out from the rows. It was a cape geeks dream. I felt excited, excited in a way I hadn't felt in too long.

"Hello, are you Fossil?" A voice asked.

I turned to the speaker and found myself floored once more.

She was beautiful, but her beauty wasn't the first thing I noticed. It was the exchange.

A conservation was taking place right next to me. Strings of commands, information and feedback were being sent through the woman's head, to a thing, broadcasting its response to her brain so loudly it was impossible to mistake the source. Calculations of local object velocity, adrenaline levels, connection strength to layered mass stored in nearby dimensions and more were flowing to and from the unique lobe in her brain, the signals filling up my own head in a slurry of raw data.

A shard of the entities that had invaded this planet and died in their attempt.

This shard was small, its voice quiet compared to many I had encountered, yet it was a booming yell compared to human thoughts. It wasn't a core function of the entities, instead it seemed to be a piecemeal thing, made up of parts of other, bigger shards if the signal it was broadcasting was any indication. That didn't mean the power it provided wasn't dangerous if leveraged properly.

This woman was a parahuman.

This woman had just asked me a question and I'd been staring awkwardly at her.

"Yeah...yeah I'm Fossil. You're Victoria right?" I said, reaching out to shake her hand. A faint sense of deja vu crossed my mind.

She took my hand, giving it a firm shake, "That I am. Gilpatrick said you wanted to look through my files."

"I do, I didn't expect this. This is amazing." I said, gesturing at the wall. "I was expecting a file cabinet or two, not this."

"Thanks, it was a lot of work putting it all together." Victoria said, pride emanating from her thoughts, swirling through the mental pathways connected to her passenger. Her smile was intoxicating, distracting me enough that I didn't hear her next couple words, "... for something specific?"

I scanned the wall, wanting to just start at the top and work my way down. "Yeah, I'm looking for… well for context I'm in the process of convincing teenagers not to join patrol, no offense intended."

"None taken, that would explain why Gilpatrick sent you my way. He does everything he can to scare new students off and too many still join." She said, brushing a strand of platinum blonde hair out of her face.

Her hair was long, reaching past her waist, well maintained. She wasn't wearing much makeup, what she did wear was expertly applied, making her eyes seem like crystalline pools in the dappled office light. The skirt she wore ended just above her knees, exposing athletic legs that made me think she worked out regularly, or had a minor Brute power.

She wore a white undershirt that gave hints at the shape of her body beneath. A black jacket hung on her chair. Again a passing sense of familiarity came to me. Which was confusing, with how attractive she was there was no way I'd forget her face. Geeky, gorgeous, powers, I was tempted to ask her out for coffee, probably would have too if I wasn't focused on a personal mission.

"No doubt, everyone wants to know more about capes." I said, "Which brings me to my point, said teenagers have become convinced that joining patrol block will give them access to information about.. about Gold Morning."

The term was guaranteed to cause a surge in brain activity, pushing through the mental barricade I held, giving me flashes of her memories from that day. Sounds of screams, crying, the world falling apart as expected, all heard in stereo beyond what a normal person could hear.. Her unique memories surprised me, beams of golden light, some glancing off her skin.

No, not her skin.

Her forcefield.

The forcefield that clung to her skin, her arms, recurrent, repeated, viewed through dozens of eyes.

I was talking to Glory Girl. The Glory Girl.

It had been years since I had read Worm! but I almost felt a little embarrassed it took me this long to realize who she was. Though from what I knew, I expected her to still be.. to look different.

To look like the form her sister had turned her into.

"That is a rumor we have been trying to curb. The patrol block doesn't know or share anything beyond what the public does." Victoria said, pulling her arms up, crossing them.

She had avoided including herself in that statement. A lie by omission, another thing we both shared.

"Understood. Sorry for bringing it up, I just… I don't want them to get tangled up in that life. Not if they have other options. I'll pass on that info, hopefully it will be enough to deter them." I said.

"It's fine. Is there anything else you need?" Victoria said quickly, her fingers clutching at her skin. Her thoughts had moved from the fight with Zion to a room, seen from multiple angles simultaneously from within. The images looped, playing moments of people gazing on her, the faces distorted, the emotions displayed exaggerated by the memories having been replayed so many times.

"There is one thing. Do you mind if I hang out and read? I'm a bit of a cape geek myself, but I've never had access to this much in one place." I said, redirecting the conversation.

She didn't say anything at first, her storm of emotion subsiding enough that it no longer breached my mental barriers, "I'm locking up in half an hour, but until then I don't mind. I can get another chair for you from downstairs." She said. She wanted an out, from what I could still perceive without prying, she wanted to go somewhere else and compose herself.

"That would be great. Though.. what hours are you in? I could come back other times, until I read it all or you get sick of me sitting in the corner." I said with a grin.

"As long I can still help students who come by, that should be fine. I'll have the door open at eight and lock up at four thirty on weekdays." She said. Her posture relaxed, fingers no longer digging into her forearm.

"Sweet," I said, giving a quick glance to the shelves, meandering towards the door. "I have an overview of Bet's history but it will be nice to fill in the gaps."

"Oh, which Earth are you from?" She said. I had expected her to end the conversation there, but apparently focusing on something else was enough for her to calm down. I turned on my heel to face her.

"That's a good question, not sure actually. As far as I've been able to tell I'm the only one who made it here from my home Earth." I said, scratching the back of my neck.

"I'm sorry." Victoria said, looking like she genuinely meant it.

"Yeah, though I did luck out in some ways. Found my sister pretty quickly after arriving in Earth Bet back in twenty eleven, well a version of my sister, our shared mom had kids around the same time for the same reasons in both Earths."

Another spike of emotion crossed her mind, and I kicked myself internally for bringing up sisters. Victoria looked like she was about to say something when my phone chimed. I pulled it out and took a quick glance.

Smartass:

I will pay you to come home right now

"Umm, well, speak of the devil. Sorry, apparently she wants something, one sec."

Victoria nodded, leaning against her desk.

Me:

I don't need money, and your stupid sign led to me giving a tour today. Not feeling that generous

Smartass:

Lol

The long con pays off once again

Seriously, what will it take to get you to warp here right now?

I was halfway through my reply when she sent another text.

Smartass:

I'll set you up on a date with the girl you are talking to

Me:

I'll bite, how do you know I'm talking to a woman I'd date?

Smartass:

You're minorly agoraphobic

Can reliably overcome to help people you care about/wearing an alt form

You don't answer this number in alt form

You'd jump on a chance to come home unless still helping or talking with someone dateable

You saw Archer this afternoon, told you about patrol block

You're talking to a patrol block squad captain you'd bang

Easy peasy

Now come home

My head's gonna explode

I was fairly certain she was skipping a number of steps in her logic, assuredly due to her migraine.

"Sounds like I need to rush off, minor medical emergency. Thank you again for everything Victoria. I'm excited to read some of your collection. It was nice meeting you." I said, sliding my phone into my pocket.

"Hope everyone is alright. Nice meeting you too." She said.

I stepped out of the office and looked around for a hidden point to warp away.

I found it behind a dumpster, not the most appealing but it served the purpose. Portal conjured, I reappeared in the shed. Unlatching the door, I left the shed, sealed it, and walked quickly along the gravel path homeward.

When I slipped through the inner gate I spotted a young boy, no older than ten, leaning against one of the garden beds, slouched down as he watched my chickens wandering the lawn. His head turned my way as I approached, red brown hair done up in a fauxhawk.

"She's inside Mr. Wilbourn." He called out.

"Thanks Aiden." I said, hurrying to the front door. "You can call me Fossil when she isn't around you know."

Aiden shrugged, apparently not wanting to get caught up in our sibling conflict.

Swinging the door open wide, I almost mistook the person in the middle of my stuff as Regina. Her eyes and upper face were covered, leaving everything else that they shared. Slim build and long sandy blonde hair, coupled with habits seemingly designed to annoy me.

Despite my protesting, she still went out in costume, though she wasn't wearing it at the moment. Still used a name that was well known in the cape scene throughout the city. Still insisted on being a super villain, being Tattletale.

Lisa was sprawled out on one of my couches, dirty flats on a pile of dried clothing. What looked to be a wet washcloth was draped over her forehead and eyes.

"Really, your migraine is so painful that you couldn't have taken your shoes off?" I grumbled.

"Something has mildew in this pile, you'll have to wash them all again anyway. And yes, it is that bad, do your thing already." Lisa said, stretching her arm in my direction, otherwise not moving from her position.

I stepped carefully over my things, tapping Lisa on the finger. A wave of blue light washed over her body, collecting around her head like a halo.

"Oh thank god." Lisa said, rubbing her temples. She rolled her head in a circle, neck popping.

"You really need to stop pushing so hard. One of these days I'm not going to drop everything just to heal you." I said.

"The world needs to be put back together first, then I can take it easy. Retire to a beach somewhere." Lisa said.

"You'd get lonely." I said, lifting my leg high over the debris. "Scoot over."

Lisa sat up and shuffled towards the end of the couch, letting me climb onto the pile of laundry. I turned and she leaned back, so we were back to back, supporting each other and facing opposite directions.

"It's been awhile since we've caught up. How have you been?" I asked, eyes wandering around the mess that was my house.

"Eh… some good some bad. Putting out a lot of fires lately, anti-cape attitude is getting worse by the day. Something is going to give soon. There are a lot of signs pointing towards war before winter." Lisa said.

"I encountered some of that today actually. Ted finally kicked me off the job site."

"It was a matter of time, he's been nursing a grudge against capes since o seven when the crew he was on was held hostage by a villain in Texas. Moved east after that and dealt with more fallout from capes all the while. He only tolerated your presence because he thought you'd keep other capes from pushing in on his work sites."

"Stop.. just stop pushing your power, you're gonna give yourself another migraine." I groaned.

"I'm not, I did a bit of digging when you started volunteering. Wanted to make sure he wouldn't sell you out to a villain group. You're welcome by the way." Lisa said, pushing against my back.

"Thanks, sorry for jumping to conclusions. Today's been rough. Ted 'fired' me, I've been powering through my agoraphobia as you pointed out, had to talk about Gold Morning a few times."

"Hmmm, fun." She said, her tone flat. "Do you have any plans for when school starts? I don't want you moping around here when the kiddos are all gone."

"No. Glow-worm is happening right now so the events of Ward are probably going to start soon. My original plan had been to get involved, but I don't know where to start and I really, really don't want to get involved, you know?"

"So you don't have any plans?" Lisa said.

I was about to speak when Lisa interrupted. "You don't know what will happen anyway, even if you had read Ward, your part in the fight against scion changed things. That point two percent of the population, those billions you saved will cause countless minor changes, deviating from the original timeline. You spent two years hiding so you wouldn't disrupt the timeline, now it is, there is no point stressing it about anymore, so stop stressing it!"

"Okay, but with all the pre-cogs out there, wouldn't even numerous minor deviations be corrected and accounted for, keeping the timeline mostly directed towards the outcomes they want." I said, preparing for a debate. "And the vast majority of those I saved were on different Earths, not those connected to Gimel."

"We aren't getting into this topic again, besides I won this argument last time we had it. You don't get to bring it up again as if that didn't happen."

"No, you didn't win, you said your power indicated that wasn't how it worked. Your power isn't infallible and it definitely doesn't accurately predict stuff from my home Earth." I argued.

"We also aren't getting into the debate about whether this reality is all fictional or if Wildbow has the ability to view across dimensions. You wanted me to hold back with my power, and I am. So that means putting ongoing debates on hold too."

"Alright I concede on grounds of your medical well being." I relented.

"Good, so back to the plan thing. Once school begins, you move into an apartment near my place, get away from all this." I could feel her shift, no doubt swinging her arm at the clutter, "We'll see each other more often. Lily and Sabah might actually hang out with the rest of us if you are hosting and if you miss watching the hoodlums I'm sure Aisha would love for you to watch the Heartbroken from time to time."

"I appreciate wanting to hang out more, and it would be nice to see everyone else out of costume, but I've put a lot of work into this place, I don't want to leave it."

"Fossil, I say this out of love, but you've built yourself an island and you need to leave it and get out in the real world. The house is cool, I'll give you that, but it isn't healthy anymore. I know you know it isn't healthy." Lisa said, sitting upright and turning to face me. I pivoted so I could see her face in turn, "How are you going to feel when you bring that girl home to this?"

"You're really confident about my relationship skills." I said, eyebrow raised to show my skepticism.

"I'm confident because you have the coolest sister in this entire reality helping you get a date. Except no one is going to keep dating you after seeing this. You need to move out or take a bulldozer to this heap." Lisa said.

"Alright, I'll consider moving, I'll consider cleaning up too. Either way I am holding you to that dating help."

"Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Alright, lay the deets on me, when are you gonna see this girl again?"

"Soon, she's the cape expert for the patrol block based out of Wayfair High, has a huge collection of cape material and doesn't mind if I stop by to read it while she's there." I said.

"Cape geek huh, you have something in common then. A reliable way of making contact and longer term strategies are in play." Lisa said, eyes up towards the ceiling, muttering to herself more than me. "How does she dress."

"She had a black skirt, her shirt was a little tight, tight enough to show off her figure but not so tight that it was unprofessional. Boots, I think she had an outer layer but had left it off, probably because her office was warm." I said, thinking back on the scene. "Oh and a bit of eye makeup, not much. Looked really good."

"I'm gonna take some liberties and assume she is up on the latest fashion. Cares about appearance, good chance she'll care about yours as well. You have to shave." She said.

"Hey I'm doing you a favor here!" Lisa said as I began to roll my eyes.

"No, you are paying me back for a favor I did for you, I'll shave but keeping a half inch or so of my beard." I said.

"Make it seven eighths, it looks better at that length. You need to trim your hair, and wear something that hasn't been rotting on your couch for a month."

"It hasn't been there a month." I said.

"It has. Moving on, any idea where she's from, a sensitive topic these days, true, but it could help gauge what her expectations are around dating. Different culture would be nice to know, if she isn't from Bet." Lisa said, counting something on her fingers.

"I'm like ninety nine percent sure she's from Earth Bet," I said, shifting my mouth slightly to give her a mischievous smile, the one she used on me all too often. "Just as sure as I am about where she's from. Brockton Bay."

Lisa froze, one of her eyes twitched.

"What. Is. Her. Name?" She said, eyes narrowing at me.

"Victoria."

"SON OF A BITCH!"

"Hey our mother was a gentle soul." I said.

"Your version maybe. Gah! I can't believe my brother has the hots for Glory Hole of all people." Lisa said, hands digging into her hair. "And you knew, when I offered to get you a date you fucking knew this would happen. Do you even know what that bitch threatened to do to me?"

"Yeah, I've read the bank heist scene like a dozen times, I remember, I also remember you being a total asshat right back at her." I said. "Also, don't call her that, you're better than that."

"You don't get to talk right now, talking privileges revoked." She slammed her hand over my mouth, pressing my mustache against my lips. "No telepathic talking either, I need to focus. Nudge me if I get off topic."

I chuckled, muffled as it was Lisa glared at me for it all the same.

_Victoria Dallon working as a cape expert with patrol block, not in New Brockton, liked the original city; sees the settlement as a pale reflection or avoiding Undersider territory, doesn't matter either way._

_ Collected books, more, stuff that takes resources and time to accumulate; invested in cape life, invested in staying with patrol block._

"Did she refer to the books as hers or the schools?" She lifted her hand from my face just long enough for me to get out a single word.

"Hers."

Hand re-applied directly to face.

_Invested, keeps separation between her belongings and the organization's; not committed to staying indefinitely, investment in helping stability not specific organization or group._

_Wants stability, to do good; invested in keeping the monsters at bay, solving the problem of villains, disarming them or locking them away._

She gave me a look.

_ Was present at Gold Morning, was healed at Gold Morning, hasn't joined a hero team in two years; can't or won't join a hero team, possibly both._

_ Has a violent background, time away from the streets, additional issues from her time in the asylum; hero teams would be hesitant to recruit her._

_ Has years of experience, continued studies of capes even after time in asylum, maintains large collection of cape materials, popular heroine in her time and area; hero teams would hire her eventually if she was trying. _

_Avoiding getting back into the cape scene._

All the while, her lips weren't moving. If I looked beyond her stream of consciousness I could perceive the way her shard was guiding her, connecting stray bits of information and forming a greater picture. It never gave her everything it knew, sometimes giving her false leads intentionally, held in reserve, instruments of conflict meant to sabotage its host.

Not that it risked it if I was watching, her shard seemed to have learned not to misdirect her while I was double checking it's work. Even so, she was sticking to just the basics, not throttling her power like I knew she could and risk another thinker headache.

It still gave me a headache to look at that much raw data.

Lisa continued to parse through the information I had given her to work with, limited as it was.

Finally she spoke out loud.

"Okay, doesn't seem to me like she is going to be a problem to me so I'll help, but we need to lay down some ground rules, even if you and Vicky don't become an item." Lisa said, withdrawing her hand from my face. "I've been meaning to bring this up anyway, for whenever you get off your ass and help the city."

I nodded, "I'll get to it eventually, I just want to stay out of the spotlight a little longer."

"First rule, if she gets into the game again or you date another cape, you steer her the fuck away from me and she never learns my identity. Ever. No subtle hints, no half truths like you're fond of, if she asks about me you lie your ass off, tell her I work in housing and leave it at that."

"Yeah, agreed, I'm not going to risk your well being over a girlfriend. A potential girlfriend." I said.

"You say that now… second rule, if you get pulled into the game, we have each other's backs. If it means pretending to fight, sure we can do that, but you'll redirect any efforts against me you hear about, you let me know about any plots in advance, and I'll do the same on my end." Lisa said.

"Fair, but there is no way I'm dressing up in costume and fighting crime." I said.

"You are awful at saying no to people you like. If Vicky asked I'd bet it would be less than a week before you were wearing spandex."

"Armor maybe, you're the one who thinks spandex is an acceptable material to wear in the middle of combat."

"Touche. Third rule, and the most important." Lisa took a deep breath. "If I tell you a relationship with her is bad for you, please please please, listen to me. Everyone with powers has issues and mine are telling me Vicky's issues have issues. There is a significant chance you'll bring out the worst in her, or she'll bring out the worst in you, just by the nature of what you both are. I need to know I'm not walking you into a situation I can't pull you out of."

I nodded, mulling over her rules as I did. "Alright, but only if I can read your mind at the time to make sure it isn't because of the conflict engine in your head."

"If that's what it takes, then yes, sure, absolutely." She looked relieved, leaning into my shoulder.

"Anything else?"

"Nah, that covers everything I'd be concerned about. I have some big stuff coming up so we need to get this done ASAP." Lisa said.

"So in a few days?" I said.

"Oh no, I'll stick around tonight to plan out our strategy. Because tomorrow, we are getting you that date."


	2. Chapter 2

"You're certain this isn't too much? I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt yesterday. What is she going to think?" I said.

"She's going to think you're hot, you're aiming to impress and you're loaded." Lisa said, taking a step back, hand on her chin, eyes scanning my outfit appraisingly. She had used some terms to describe the clothes I wore, but I didn't know if they were companies, designers or something else and I didn't care enough to ask. "Turn around. Slower."

I rolled my eyes, following her instructions, slowing the rate at which I rotated. As I did so, I got a view of myself in the bathroom mirror. To my eyes I was wearing an off white button up, slacks, and shoes that at least looked like they were made of leather. The materials and textures were different than I was used to. That might have been how expensive clothes were like in my homeworld, but I never spent enough on clothing back home to know.

My beard had been trimmed, using a seven eighths inch trimmer and my shape shifting to touch up the edges. The balding patch that had developed on my crown in the last few years was filled in with a bit of shape shifting as well, the rest of my hair cut shorter on the sides, longer on the top in a style that Lisa insisted was currently in.

"Should I be giving off the impression of wealth though? I'm not exactly rich." I said as I came to a stop facing Lisa, still hovering an inch off the ground.

Lisa gave me a look, an 'are you kidding me' look.

"You are always a thought away from owning a mountain of gold, you're rich. Even if you don't take advantage." Lisa said, rolling her eyes then looking away, scrolling through images on her cell phone. "Or, you know, supplying RBR with all the building materials they need."

I ignored the jab, letting out a deep breath. Unless she directly asked I wouldn't make a deal of it.

She would keep on pushing if I didn't say something.

The words died on my lips as Lisa jumped in.

"That's the best we can get, without talking to Vicky directly. The Thibult was in when she was in highschool, and Marco Sono is a good call back to that. She might not notice consciously, but it should win you some nostalgia points. I might have gone with the… you don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Clothes?" I said, playing dumb just to see how she'd react."You're just making up words aren't you?"

"Right, you're the type who just grabs the first outfit you see and calls it good." Lisa said, eyebrows raised. I was overwhelmingly certain she practiced her facial expressions on a regular basis, to make sure her message would be clear through a mask. Right now, she was giving me the playfully smug look.

"Not the first outfit…"

"If you get a date out of this you are running the outfit by me first. I'm not having my hard work wasted by your bad fashion sense." Lisa said.

I couldn't help but chuckle, Regina had said something similar to me a lifetime ago.

Lisa's words brought to mind the image of all of us hanging out, Lisa and Regina bantering back and forth about clothing, both interested in a mixture of practical and fashionable, both valuing mobility for different reasons. They'd both see this a challenge, to find something that fit me and fit my sensibilities.

Ben didn't have an Earth Bet equivalent, but he probably would have preferred that, playing his videogames on the periphery, or sharing the latest meme that caught his attention before withdrawing back into himself. He would have been twelve in this timeline.

Rex and I would probably hang back, do the responsible older sibling thing, mediate as best we could with siblings who could go from casual conversation to claws out, go for the jugular, in seconds. Lisa didn't like talking about him, but I had pieced enough together that I knew our lives had taken similar turns, a slow fluctuation between being ready to take on the world and being consumed by depression. Ending it all just wasn't an option for me.

Lisa pulling me into a hug derailed my thoughts, her head well below my chin with how I was hovering.

She knew where my mind was going. I knew she knew that I knew.

What I didn't know was what to say.

"Should I be finding you a therapist instead of a date?" Lisa whispered.

"No, I'll be okay. I'd be too worried about a therapist being obligated to share anything I told them with the authorities for it to be worth it anyway." I said. Just thinking about telling someone else my failings set me on edge. Lisa knew, because secrets couldn't exist between us.

"I can hire someone outside the system. No mandatory reporting required. Just say the word." Lisa said. Her words were frayed, emotion bleeding into each sentence.

"If I get to the point of ideation, I'll go straight to you and we can set up an appointment that day."

"Promise?" She sounded so small, like she was half her age.

"I promise." I opened my mind to her, broadcasting the nuances of my emotions to her directly. Making certain that she could trust my oath.

"Thank you." Lisa gave me a squeeze, then let go of me. "Sorry about the RBR comment too. With winter on the way people are.. I just…"

She hesitated, looking down at her feet. "You don't have to use your powers if you don't want to. If it would help, I could funnel any supplies you are willing to make through the Undersiders. That way you can help without the pressure involved and if you need to stop, we can be the big bad villains that are withholding supplies for the city."

"Wouldn't that paint a target on your back? I don't want to get any of you killed." I wanted to help, and the idea of providing the city all the raw materials it could need while keeping my anonymity was appealing.

"It's fine, we've handled worse before. Well.. maybe check in more often if we do this in case someone does off us all. Being dead for a month because you don't visit me enough would suck." Lisa wiped away a tear, laughing mirthlessly.

I sighed, wincing internally at her casual mention of her dying. "I know what you're doing. Just because it completely worked and you got exactly what you wanted doesn't mean I didn't notice."

"It worked huh?" Lisa said with a sad smile. Her somber mood was genuine, I could feel that it was genuine and it wouldn't have worked at all if it was an act. I wasn't certain if she had simply jumped on this opportunity to get what she wanted or created it. Reading into it wasn't worth the headache, especially since she was more than capable of intentional self deception strong enough that it tricked my telepathy.

Having a criminal mastermind for a sibling could be such a pain.

"Yeah it worked. After the kids start school we can talk logistics. We can set up a regular time to check in too so there isn't a chance of you losing more than a week tops before I bring you back." I grumbled.

"You know, if you acted as hired muscle for the Undersiders we wouldn't have any worries about retaliation." Lisa said.

"Don't push your luck, I'm not getting involved in your turf wars. I don't fight, remember?"

"Fossil, if you went all out once, you might never need to fight again. Capes would surrender as soon as you showed up, barring the rare exceptions." Lisa said. "Or you know, street level all out. Not vaporizing the continent all out."

"Not gonna happen Lisa." I said, trying to convey my annoyance in my tone. Once she got something she wanted, she would inevitable reach further until she hit a wall, knowing I didn't like setting one. This was a line I wasn't going to be manipulated into crossing however.

She raised her hands in mock surrender, pulling up her phone between her face and me like a barrier. "Fine, fine. Let's get back to the matter at hand. We should go over safe subjects to talk about. I went through Vicky's online activity from the last few days and she has quite a few topics you need to stay clear of."

I was only half paying attention, partially distracted by how irritated I was at Lisa for pushing too far, reminding me of the two times I did go all out, even if she wasn't there to see them. The rest of my distraction was from the buzz of activity from Lisa's shard.

Ciara had called Lisa's shard the Negotiator, but right now I was thinking of it by a less polite term. The shard was in heavy data collection mode, scanning the local environment, but primarily focusing on me and my reaction, analyzing my neurochemistry and physiological response and storing it away for future use. It made me wonder how much of our conversation was actually the Negotiator pushing Lisa into testing me, creating opportunities to study a powerset that existed separate from the entities. I couldn't help but feel a little violated, knowing an alien organism was studying my thoughts for a grand scheme that would never reach fruition.

I had been focused on the conversation such that I wasn't paying attention to the shard's intent. Going back in time to watch the moment play out again was tempting, but I hadn't felt a future me show up since yesterday and that loop had resolved. A trip back in time now would mean abandoning this timeline, abandoning this Lisa right after promising to consult her if I ever considered leaving her life by a different means.

I wasn't about to do that to her, no matter how irritating she could be at times.

"First subject, her sister. Just steer clear of anything that could remind her of… and you already did yesterday, great." Lisa said, resting her hand against her forehead.

"Hey, you texted me in the middle of our conversation." I said.

"You should have still known better, dunce. Just don't bring her up today, or her mom, or dad, or me for that matter. Family in general." Lisa said, then paused. "Maybe ask about her cousin, Crystal, if her identity as a member of New Wave is brought up. Shows you know about her past, without touching on any sensitive issues."

"I was wondering about that, I need to let her know I know who she is at some point, and I'm sure she has had good and bad experiences with that." I said.

"Don't act like a fanboy, it will move the power dynamic away from potential date and towards fanboy stalker depending on how you act. Bring it up early and move away from the subject." Lisa said, "Moving on, do NOT bring up the asylum. Full stop."

"Give me some credit here," I said, "Not about to remind her about that if I can help it. Anything else?"

"I'd avoid Gold Morning, Leviathan, any thing that calls attention to her current appearance, anything related to hospitals or healthcare in general. Anything related to sports would be a bad idea as well." Lisa said, listing things off on her fingers as she said them. I gave her my best skeptical look, probably not as effective as her rehearsed looks but it seemed to get the message across. "Well okay, I wouldn't avoid them, but if you actually want to date this girl you should."

"Any suggestions on things I can talk to her about?"

"Just do your normal geeky thing, while avoiding those specific topics of course. Dangle the fact your world had info about the entities that ours didn't, get her asking you the questions. Oh and let me know the moment you get a hit on your radar."

"No, actually not just no, fuck no. That ability is squicky enough as is, I'm not about to use it on someone who had something similar done to them against their will." I said, faking a gag to emphasize my point.

"It is squicky and there isn't enough bleach in the world to scrub away what my power said you've done with it. Just tell me the moment you can detect her arousal." Lisa said.

"Hey! Everything I did was mutually consensual, even the convention after party, or..." I trailed off as Lisa actually gagged, face looking pale.

"Fuck off, don't fucking remind me. I know too much about your messed up sex life as is." Lisa said, coughing. "Oh god, I think I have vomit stuck in my throat."

"Nothing I've done is that gross, you're being dramatic."

"Not you, jeez, that burns. It's in my brain and it isn't leaving."

I rolled my eyes at her theatrics, even if she couldn't see with her hands rubbing her eyes as if to wipe away what her power had shown her.

Lisa went to the sink and grabbed a big container of mouthwash, rinsing her mouth with the bright green fluid. The gargling noise she made had to be louder than necessary.

I drifted over to the living room while Lisa was having her moment in the bathroom, landing on the couch. The open living space was well decorated, not lavishly, but looking similar to an upper middle class apartment of my home Earth. A massive television screen took up one wall, glass coffee table in the center surrounded by a pair of couches and single chair. A few framed pictures were hung between post modern paintings.

All the pieces of furniture were ones I had created. My birthday gift to Lisa last year had been a salvaged home decor magazine that we went through together over a day, summoning and dismissing furniture until she was pleased with the final look of her apartment.

The pictures were familiar too. One was of Lisa and I, bundled up in layers, standing at the summit of Mt. Everest. As far as I was aware, we were the first and only people to have climbed the mountain on this Earth, though we did cheat slightly.

The next photo was of Brian, Aisha, Lisa, Lily and Sabah, all out of costume, sitting around a table. I assumed Rachel was the one who took the picture, but it could have been one of their allies who they trusted enough to see them without masks. Aisha was laughing at something, most likely something Lisa had said based on the smug look on her face. Brian was looking over his shoulder, like he was looking for an excuse to leave the room. Lily had a subdued smile on her face and Sabah looked equally bemused, with a hint of embarrassment.

It wasn't the best quality of picture, the lighting was off and the edges blurred from the photographers unsteady hand, but it was a window into the Undersider's human side. I wish I could have met the ones who didn't make it.

Off the battlefield that is.

Lisa emerged from the bathroom, just as I glanced to the last photo. It was water damaged, the corners warped and the surface stained brown in spots. A younger Lisa was grinning at me from the picture, leaning against a nervous looking girl, face partially concealed by the girls curly black hair.

The girl didn't have the intense look in her eyes I knew she developed in the months after the picture was taken. Without knowing who she was, no one would suspect she was so instrumental in saving humanity. Just a regular teenager, trying to make it in a crazy world.

"So, got that out of your system?" I asked.

"No," Lisa grumbled. "You suck."

"Love you too."

Lisa groaned in response. "Okay, I'll say it again, nothing I've done would elicit a response like this, what's up?" I said, looking away from the pictures.

"Put some obscure clues together, power gave me a graphic description of one of your past partners hygiene habits." She still looked pale, "people are so gross."

"Eww, never mind you don't need to tell me." There were times when I was jealous of Lisa's ability to get answers, this wasn't one of them. At least with telepathy people's most disturbing secrets didn't actively come to you.

"You don't get off that easily. I'll tell you, least opportune time, when this rancid dish of revenge is ice cold." Lisa flopped down on the couch next to me.

"Well, on that ominous note, when do you want to do this?" I said.

"Eleven thirty, she'll be getting ready to go to lunch, gives you a smaller window so you don't drag your feet." Lisa said as she fumbled with the remote.

"So what are we doing in the hour and a half or so before then? Looks like you have a plan." I gestured to her hands.

"We are watching the most mind numbing thing I can find to get those images out of my head."

"Do I get a vote on what we watch?" I said, already aware of the answer.

"Nope."

I grumbled and adjusted my position on the couch.

Lisa flipped through channels like a woman on a mission. Her final verdict wasn't a surprise either, but it brought mixed feelings, a twist of nostalgia and regret.

Cooking shows were a favorite of Regina's as well, though I never found out the real reason why in her case.

Reality tv hadn't taken off in Earth Bet like it had in my home Earth. People wanted escape, not a reminder. That said, Cooking with the Stars had come about in Earth Bet as well, even if the similarities were in name only. Different studio, different format and it had come out in this timeline earlier, with a focus on capes showing up as surprise guest stars in the first couple seasons. Since TV stations had reestablished there hadn't been a single cape cameo, but higher profile film celebrities would show up from time to time, maintaining their public presence in a world that couldn't sustain a sizable film industry.

I let my thoughts wander as Lisa sat fixated on the television. She made comments, pointing out flaws that would get people disqualified or who would win a round before the round even began. For the most part I tuned her out, listening just enough to make sure she wasn't saying something of consequence.

I glanced at the digital clock at the corner of the screen.

Fifty nine minutes until I asked out a superhero.

Maybe it was hypocritical of me, but the thought of asking Victoria Dallon out on a date had my stomach in more knots than asking my high school crush had.

Had events played out differently would we be watching an episode where Victoria was the guest star, showing the people of Gimel how to make the limited food supplies taste a little more like home?

Probably not, but it wasn't so unbelievable, she had been a minor celebrity for a time.

Even without the celebrity part, she was a hero, retired maybe, but she had played the part, dressed up, fought crime, faced that risk and lived that life. If her interlude was to be believed then she was tougher on unpowered criminals than necessary, something I wasn't sure how I felt about. Power corrupted after all, but excessive violence against Nazis and rapists wasn't the sort of corruption I couldn't forgive.

It was a habit to keep an eye out for if we got beyond a first date though.

If I could even work up the courage to ask.

Another glance, fifty four minutes.

Lisa had to be aware of my turmoil, but she chose to ignore it. I readjusted my position.

Fifty three minutes.

I knew it would be worse if I kept looking at the time, what I didn't know was if I dreaded the upcoming moment or just wanted it to be over with.

In all likelihood she would just turn me down, because why wouldn't she. She was amazing and I was a bundle of red flags, using a potential date as an excuse to pull myself somewhat together after years of letting self care fall by the wayside.

I was using her, I was using the idea of her at that. All I knew of her was from a couple minute interaction and words on a screen. Somehow I had convinced myself this was okay to barge into her life and use her for my own gains. That wasn't fair to her, and even if it was, she shouldn't be with someone like me.

She should be with someone without so much blood on his hands.

"Time to go," Lisa said abruptly, turning off the tv and standing to her feet.

"What?" With the screen off, I couldn't see the clock, but I checked recently enough, "we have at least forty minutes left?"

"Yeah I lied, she takes her lunch at eleven thirty. I knew you would talk yourself out of this given enough time. So chop chop, let's do this thing." Lisa said, stretching.

The dread I felt grew in magnitude, locking me to the couch. I willed my legs to push me to my feet but they refused, my levitation failing to lift me. I was frozen, still in the head lights of the oncoming encounter.

"Oh my god, she is not worth a panic attack Fossil. Vicky is a naive thug who thinks solving the world's problems involves hitting people hard enough, you are so much better than her it is almost laughable." Lisa's tone was condescending. Grating.

"She at least tried alright, what is your problem with her?" I said, doing my best to keep my tone level.

"My problem is that you are freaking out over nothing, ask her out, go on a date, blow off some steam. This isn't a marriage proposal. Besides, I've got your back, there is no way she'll turn you down." Her blatant dismissal of my struggles brought my mood to a low simmer. Getting angry would play into her hands, but on reflection, so did my current state. The paralysis I had felt had peeled away for that low anger, giving me the drive I had lacked seconds ago.

If only every conversation with her wasn't like this.

"Fine, let's go." I said, waiting for her to say something else.

That something else didn't come, either her power told her not to, or she knew me well enough that she held her tongue. I reached out my hand to take hers, conjuring a portal above our heads.

The temptation to teleport us a mile above the school wasn't strong enough to overcome the pain dealing with Lisa's mood afterwards would bring.

She still gave me a knowing look right before we were drawn into the portal.

We appeared on the roof, on the other side of the school from where Victoria's office was.

"Can you see her from here?" I asked.

Lisa withdrew a pair of binoculars from her bag, pulling them up to her face. "Vicky is spotted, she's on her computer right now. Not looking too happy at the moment. Not enough to call it off but something to keep in mind. Link us?"

I complied, deciding to put past grievances aside for now. Barriers were reshaped, forming a bridge of sorts between my mind and Lisa's. It was fragile, not something I had an intuitive grasp on nor much practice developing, but as long as I wasn't startled I should be able to maintain it until I slept.

Should.

"Link established. Going in now." I sent to Lisa. Another portal appeared above me, and a second later I was at the dumpster I had teleported from yesterday, tens of feet away from the stairs to Victoria's office.

"If you are planning some badly done military lingo I'm walking away right now." Lisa sent.

"It's a long walk to New Brockton, hope you brought your hiking boots, over." I sent, not able to hide my smile.

It didn't come across as words, but I could feel Lisa's exasperation through our connection. "Just go up there, Vicky would appreciate a distraction now."

I nodded by habit, before remembering that I was doing this covertly. Making my way up the stairs, I went to knock on the door.

Ben's face stared back at me from the door, a familiar smile on his face. A choked sound escaped from my mouth. The muscles in my calves tensed to compensate as my knees started to buckle.

"Shit, it isn't him Fossil. Look closer." Lisa sent.

My eyes had been blurring, unfocused. Pushing effort into looking back at my brother, I realized it really wasn't him.

It was a back to school poster, just with some kid that happened to resemble my brother enough to bring back a sea of old memories. The kid was making a goofy expression, thumbs up. 'Are you ready for school?' plastered above his head with a list of back to school items along the side of the poster.

"We should call this off. Come back another day." Lisa sent, a weird urgency to her voice.

"No, I'm not going to be able to do this if I put it off." I sent back.

"Look, you aren't in a good headspace for this, this isn't going to go well if you push it."

"Please, I need to do this, before I find a reason not to."

Lisa didn't respond, and I felt a pulse of anxiety through our connection. It wasn't like Lisa to worry, and it was nice to know how much she was concerned for me.

"Alright, but be careful."

I knocked on the door, studiously ignoring the grinning face that covered part of it.

When Victoria's voice welcomed me in, I opened the door and stepped inside. "Hey Victoria, good morning."

"Good morning," Victoria's eyes passed quickly over me, then realization dawned, "Fossil. I like the hair cut."

"She didn't recognize you, by the way." Lisa sent.

"Yeah I got that." I sent.

"Just making sure, you can be kinda dense at times."

I didn't respond to Lisa, instead giving Victoria a big smile, "Thanks, I've been meaning to cut it for a while. Figured if I was going to make the trip all the way out here I should clean up."

"Don't reinforce your social isolation, just gloss over it." Lisa sent.

"It looks nice." For having been upset just a little bit ago, Victoria out on a solid face when I appeared. The only chink was the way her eyes didn't seem to change expression as her mouth moved. Frozen, hiding the emotions she actually felt rather than masking them with another.

"Is now a good time for me to be here? I can come back later?" I offered, not moving further into the room. Victoria raised her eyebrows slightly, her eyelids raising in turn. Did she know her tells and was self correcting, guessing I detected her feelings that way?

"No, it's fine. Just dealing with the internet." Victoria said.

"Her college application was rejected, she just found out, doesn't want to talk about it." Lisa sent, finally something useful.

"Gotcha, the internet connection issues have been bothering me too." I said. "I had tried researching online before coming out here, but making the trip was faster than waiting for sites to load."

"I hope you didn't have too long of a drive." She said, shifting her posture slightly and brushing a stray hair from her face. Just watching her move was enough to distract me from what I was saying.

"Don't." Lisa sent. I wasn't about to tell Victoria I had powers, but I hated lying enough that I would have tried giving her a half truth instead. Something that was technically true.

"It wasn't that bad, just came from downtown New Brockton." I said, irritated with myself for the dishonesty.

"You should have told me, I'd have stayed late yesterday if I had known you had come that far." Victoria's tone was apologetic. I hadn't thought of it as far, but then again I hadn't dealt with traffic in some time.

"No worries, it wasn't that bad. I used to make commutes like that when I worked construction back on my home Earth."

"Right, you had mentioned that. If you are comfortable talking about it, I'd like to ask you some questions about the Earth you came from sometime?" She had been gentle, so I didn't want to punish the behavior. Having to think about home hurt if I did it for too long.

"Yeah, yeah, I can do that sometime. It's only fair since you're sharing all of this." I said, nodding to the shelves, trying to draw the subject away. "I was thinking about your collection on the way over, I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?"

Victoria's records were a treasure trove. I wanted to read it all, and a part of my mind feared that if I blew it in asking her out, I wouldn't be able to read any of it.

She made a contemplative sound and approached the walls. "What sort of stuff are you interested in?"

"Drop a fact from the book, something our world hasn't discovered yet." Lisa sent.

"I don't know what hasn't been discovered, that's why I came here in the first place." I sent back.

"Figure it out." Lisa sent back, snark twisted into the feelings I received from her.

That feeling of paralysis crept back. Victoria was waiting for an answer, and Lisa wanted me to give a specific answer I didn't know. An impossible situation I had been working towards solving being thrust upon me in my pursuit of solving it. Every second made it harder to respond, because responding after being quiet was awkward and coming off awkward was something I desperately didn't want, my mind racing to find a solution that became harder the longer it took.

"Well…" I needed time. An old question came to mind, from my time browsing forums in my old world. The question might have been answered, but that didn't help me here and now. I also wanted an answer for personal reasons.

"The entities are trying to find a solution for their exponential population growth in the face of the heat death of the universe right? I'm curious how all the powers fit into that. Mover powers make sense, the entities need to travel in space and refining that helps them travel. Master effects make sense in needing ways to manipulate their host species into testing their powers, but some don't really line up." I said.

"You absolute moron." Lisa sent.

"What?" I said and sent at the same time. Thankfully Victoria didn't seem to notice my slip up, or my statement didn't seem out of place. Her face was pensive, almost seemed disbelieving.

"What's your source on this?" Victoria said. "There are a lot of theories out there for Scion's motivations, though I haven't heard that one before."

"You were asking about Gold Morning yesterday, you could have dropped something about that, instead you just told her something NO ONE should know." Lisa sent.

"You said not to talk about Gold Morning." I sent back quickly, trying to keep in mind Victoria's question and how I'd answer it.

"That would have been better than this. She isn't going to let this go, lie to her. Say you read it online. Connect it back to the internet trouble, you were reading a forum and it crashed on you." Lisa sent.

"No," I sent, just as I spoke to Victoria outloud. "Can you promise me you won't share this with anyone without asking me first?"

"She totally thinks you're a parahuman now. Actually this is good, pretend you're a thinker that as a side effect can talk to the Agents." Lisa said. I almost rolled my eyes, but thankfully held back last second.

"I can't promise that I won't if someone is at risk." Victoria said, her tone cautious.

"Mandatory reporter style promise then." I said, to which Victoria made a sound of affirmation.

"The Earth I'm from, powers didn't appear there, but someone there wrote the story of how everything would play out in Earth Bet, from two thousand eleven leading up to Gold Morning, with side stories covering earlier events as well. There was going to be a sequel, but I ended up in Earth Bet before I had a chance to read it." I said.

"Damn it Fossil, don't you dare say another word," Lisa growled through our connection as I spoke.

"You wouldn't happen to be the Fossil from that news segment a while back. The… well the segment about the first guy who lived here in Earth Gimel." Victoria's said. Her posture was shifting, something I knew I should know more about. Years of isolation weren't doing me any favors and Lisa wasn't going to help me the way I wanted.

"The Gimel Hobo segment? Yeah I'm him. No worries about using that name, I think it's kinda funny." I said with a smile. "Once I figured out where I was I decided the best way forward was to hide out on Gimel and avoid disrupting the timeline. Any parahuman I talked to about the book from my world forgot it the second I stopped talking, well, until after Gold Morning. I was contacted by some capes at one point and we determined the odds for the world were worse if I got involved, even if they couldn't remember why."

I scratched at my arm, pulling up my sleeve slightly.

"That's quite a claim. Do you have anything to back it up?" Victoria asked. "Not that I don't believe you, but power's can be pretty subtle. It's possible the person who wrote that story was one of the first parahumans of your world. They might have had a form of precognition, or a side effect of their power let them see alternate realities and they happened to see Earth Bet."

"Go with that, please Fossil. Just trust me on this, please." Lisa sent. Her tone held none of the hostility it had before. It made me pause. Why was she so insistent on me keeping this a secret? I had been the one sticking to preserving the timeline, now that I had embraced her argument she had done a one eighty. Was this some sort of mindgame, to get me to behave a certain way that would optimize my chances with Victoria?

She was asking nicely, and I didn't want to deter her from doing that again in the future.

"That's my sister's theory actually. I suppose it wouldn't make much of a difference if that was the case, the details have been completely correct with the only exceptions being stuff I've influenced." I said, knowing that it was a stretch.

Lisa groaned through the connection we shared.

"Yesterday you came in asking about Gold Morning? Why? You should know more than most if what you say is true." Victoria said. She must be probing my story, looking for inconsistencies. I was halfway through formulating my response when I realized she wasn't still dancing around the subject of her involvement. Most of the public was eager to know what happened, she was practically outing herself by how she phrased her question. Maybe she believed me more than she let on?

"I don't want to step on any toes, doesn't feel like my place to spread around what happened when so many parahumans seem determined to keep it hidden. Respect for the dead too. Figured I'd stick to what the public does know to keep the kids away from the patrol block life." I said.

"Who was the story about?" She asked. She wasn't looking at me intensely any more, eyes wandering to the side and up. What was it that Lisa was always saying about that? The human mind uses too much processing power studying facial features that when you need to think deeply about something you instinctively look away from a person's face.

"Is it alright if I say?" I sent to Lisa.

"Oh, you're actually asking permission now? Just leave her personal life out of it." Lisa sent back.

"The story was about Taylor Hebert, from just after she got her powers to.. to when she disappeared." I said. As I finished speaking, I realized she hadn't been looking away to think. It had been the thousand yard stare on her face.

"Not to sound conceited, was I in the story?" Victoria seemed shaken, her voiced hitched as she said the last word.

Shit.

She remained composed, but it was obvious that beneath her stoic facade she was shattering.

"Great job, you managed to hit all her buttons without bringing half of them up. I'm almost proud." Lisa sent, tone flat.

"Should I tell her?" I sent in reply. The tiny shimmer of a tear in the corner of Victoria's eye was a slam to the gut, hitting me harder than any physical blow I'd experienced.

"What, and end your honest streak? Just rip that band aid off, the not knowing is hurting her just as much as knowing the truth will." Lisa sent, still keeping her tone such that I couldn't tell what she was feeling.

I was rooted to the spot, hands trembling, trapped again by uncertainty. An errant thought wished for the Path to Victory in this moment, to guide me to a solution that didn't leave Victoria devastated and Lisa angry with me.

My power was ready to comply, bringing my connection to the person that was Contessa to the forefront of my mind. Everything she was, her physical makeup, mental capabilities, her unique connection to an alien organism that could guide her down almost any path to success. All of that was at my disposal, only a thought away from making it a part of myself.

As tempting as it was, I pushed it away. I still hadn't taken that leap, copying a power from a parahuman. I hadn't taken the risk of being influenced by their shards.

I pushed away the thought that came after it, to adopt Lisa's connection to her shard and get the insights she could provide me if she was being more helpful.

Victoria's shard was a storm of activity. I was being probed by it just as much as by Victoria's questions, my hormone levels being tracked on a matter of attoseconds.

My hormone levels.

Awe to dread, wasn't that the spectrum Victoria could produce in people? Whatever it did to most people, it was causing my heart to race, lock me in freeze mode as hard as any panic attack I had experienced. Being aware that this was external to me helped, but it was still a struggle to break to loop of cyclical thoughts and say the next words out loud.

Her aura probably wasn't even near full strength, given how long it took me to notice.

"Yeah, you were in the story. I didn't recognize you at first yesterday, because words on a page don't really capture how someone really looks. And I know.." I trailed off, not trusting myself to put the rest into words. How do you tell someone you know the details on the worst moments of their life, without coming across like a complete asshole?

Victoria didn't seem to either, nodding, while still not fully looking at me. Her aura's power dropped, and I could feel the way her shard was throttling its hormone manipulation back. She must have realized it was up. Flashes of the hospital and people peering at her with disgust or shock thinly veiled on their faces flickered through her mind, overcoming my barriers. A couple had my face, her imagination distorting memory.

"Wow. Just wow. Fossil you give me crap for how I treat people, but jeez dude." Lisa sent.

"How bad is it?" I sent, probably my wince showed on my face but Victoria didn't seem to notice or care.

"She's reeling, not at all interested in anything romantic right now by the way, so you didn't really ruin your chances, so much as you never had a chance. She wants to get out of the situation to calm down, but doesn't want to alienate you and risk losing the chance at learning more about the story. She's thinking of questions to ask already." Lisa sent. "She'll just use you to get what she wants, best to cut your losses and leave. Don't even have to say anything, just go."

"Not going to do that to her." I sent back.

"Fossil, you've done the worst you can do without bringing her family here. Just get out of there." Lisa sent.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know how to tell you, and I didn't want to go forward without you knowing what I know." I said, "I'm not really good at peopling these days."

"Peopling? Really? That's the best you got?" Lisa sent.

"Shut up, I'm not at my best right now." I sent back.

"When are you ever?" Lisa sent back.

Irritation crept into my spine, my skin felt increasingly uncomfortable. I always tried to believe Lisa's attacks were meant to break my thought loops, get me out of a bad head space into one that I could at least act in.

This wasn't that.

This was Lisa trying to hurt me, which I couldn't understand the reasoning behind. She was irritated at more than me revealing secrets she seemed to think belonged to her.

Victoria nodded stiffly. "It makes sense, do you mind coming back in an hour? I'm taking an early lunch and need to lock up. I do want to hear more about the story."

"Going to use you for your info, I rest my case. Now come over here and let's go home." Lisa sent.

"Yeah, I can come back. Have a good lunch." I said, retreating out the office door.

The sun was glaring down as I stepped out, reminding me how awful the human condition could be. Not that I needed another reminder.

A few seconds later I found a place out of sight, one portal jump and I was on the roof top with a very irate Lisa.

"I could strangle you right now! What were you thinking?" Lisa said, shouting in a subdued way so her voice wouldn't carry far. I took a deep breath, consciously ignoring her word choice.

"I couldn't lie to her, I wasn't going to start a relationship off based on lies." I said.

"Every relationship is based off lies. That's how relationships work." Lisa said, arms crossed.

"Not with me." I said.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Just send me home." She said, stepping below the portal the moment it finished manifesting and allowing it to whisk her away. Lisa must have decided it wasn't worth trying to convince me to leave, or had figured her giving up and leaving on that note would hurt more of the two options.

If she had considered that, she would have been right.

The empty sky loomed above me, the soft blue no longer a source of wonder, but dread. I was a strong contender for the most powerful being in the known earths and the fucking sky scared me.

I gazed at the horizon, feeling all the more anxious with how there wasn't a cloud in sight and how exposed I was on the rooftop. Near the horizon I spotted the moon, barely visible in the heat of the day.

A thought occurred to me, nearly quelled by a twisting of my gut, but the thought was too stubborn to die. What was it called, exposure therapy? Or maybe I was feeling in the mood for some self flagellation.

I tapped into a being I had touched in the days leading up to the end of the world, or more accurately I tapped into a copy of that being held within me. Shifting mental levers without name or label, I superseded my natural state with traits of this being. Not a parahuman, another creation of the entities that I could gain the abilities of without risking mental contamination.

Gone was my flesh and blood body, replaced by near infinitely condensed and overlaid materials, suspended between dimensions and focused into a shape only superficially resembling my own. I kept my natural skin tone and hair color, and my natural way of perceiving the world. It was too easy to get lost in other forms of perception.

Besides, my heart couldn't handle seeing all the ways things could go wrong in the future.

When the change was complete, I dismissed my phone, wallet and keys into one of my personal pocket dimensions, then opened a portal.

I levitated on arrival so as to not disturb the white dust that covered the barren landscape around me. The sun baked surface contrasted with the deep shadows in the pock marked sediment. My non existent gut clenched at the vast openness before me, a tremor passed across my surface that would be panic sweats in another body.

A small orb of blue and green shone on the horizon.

Home.

Just not the one I wanted it to be.

The sun burned brightly overhead, but the direct exposure was meaningless in this form. I could plunge into the core of the sun and the roiling heat and pressure wouldn't feel any different than the buffering of a breeze.

Every other direction was filled with motes of light, the expanse covered so fully that it was almost possible to pretend their numbers were without limit.

I sighed an airless sigh, sitting cross legged a few feet off the ground.

Being so close to the brink of infinity was terrifying, but that was a fact I lived with daily, seeing the whole of the Milky Way laid out before me just made it harder to ignore.

I glanced Earthwards, that tiny blue dot in tragically finite expanse.

Fuck Zion and his stupid four words.

He didn't even have the decency to kill me after like he did with David.

Another knot where my stomach would be, a psychosomatic pain that I had to be doing to myself on some level. If only I had destroyed Zion before he had a chance to talk, I could be in blissful ignorance. Except everyone would be dead by now if I had acted too early.

What did I do wrong? Why was Lisa so upset with me? Not directly related to the words of a grieving god, but when things went wrong my mind dug through every memorable failure.

Another airless sigh and my eyes roved the cosmos.

The starscape hanging over head put the feelings I'd had in perspective.

What did it matter that Lisa was upset? I loved her dearly, but she'd be dust or less for the vast majority of my life, a distant dream millennia from now. No matter what I did with my time, I would eventually be alone, adrift in a universe slowly succumbing to entropy. Even if I brought everyone I loved back, over and over a million times, eventually they wouldn't be able to survive when the last star burnt out.

Would I even care about them all after that much time? Almost a half decade of having phenomenal cosmic powers had already shaken my attachments to their core. To paraphrase a famous doctor, being caught up in the tangle of human lives was exhausting.

I could embrace it, skip the decades of drifting away from the human condition and just roam the cosmos, enjoy the wonders of the universe no other person would see.

It would be the safe option for the planet too. From here I could summon a black hole and destroy the Earth and every Earth linked to it by portals.

In theory anyway, I hadn't tried summoning black holes for just that reason. What I could certainly do is use large scale micro telekinesis to split the planet like an apple, let the core ooze up through the slices or spin apart, however the physics would work on that scale. All it would take is a thought and every human life could be extinguished. Or I could just summon a ball of iron the size of the moon, let it fall into Earth's atmosphere.

Were klaxons blaring somewhere down there? Precogs freaking out because of my idle thoughts about exterminating all life? Or was everyone down there blissfully ignorant of how much power I had over them, because even in a quadrillion timelines I would never do that?

I'd need to tell Lisa before I left, I owed her that at least. The kids would need to know I was leaving too, otherwise the chickens wouldn't be fed. The garden would need someone to tend to it too, with school so close.

I made a portal, leaving the placid moonscape and returning to the smelly dumpster nook I had used as my escape point before. Just a couple calls while in cell service and I could leave the Earth and all the messy ties behind for good.

"I told you he would come back," A man's voice said, interrupting my walk out of the alley.

"Alright fucker, hand over your wallet." Another man said, stepping out of a doorway. He was armed, a switchblade in his hand. I stepped back on instinct, then realized how silly that was.

I was a galaxy and he had a knife. Maybe not a literal galaxy, but enough mass to compare to one.

I reached into my pockets and turned them out, the first thing to do when being mugged was to give them what they wanted after all. "I don't have my wallet on me, sorry." I said.

It had to be the nice outfit. In all my time in the worm-verse, I had never been robbed, no matter what I had been led to believe on the state of things. This was my first time hanging out in alleys wearing a set of nice clothes however.

"Yeah right, guy like you? Don't try anything." The man with the knife said, gesturing to his partner with a nod. He was scrappy looking, greasy hair of someone who hadn't taken a shower this morning and had gone on to walk around in the hot summer day.

The other guy approached with clear intent to pat me down, beads of sweat on his forehead. He seemed antsy, his cheeks shallow and creased from hunger and sun exposure. It would take me milliseconds to destroy him, burn him away, break his will, shred him into subatomic particles. A mere flick would send him flying with the strength this current form had behind it.

Instead I did something more subtle. I hummed.

Unlike the original user of the power, I didn't do so in a way that let my targets know anything was happening, no ominous song or wail. Their neurochemistry was tweaked in a way that would make them more suggestible, a quick peek into their immediate future showed that it would wear off before they had any conversations with strangers.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked softly to the man checking my pockets, hands raised at my sides.

"My daughter needs insulin, his wife does too." The man said in response, not hesitating as he rummaged through my pockets with grubby hands. "The price just went up and our jobs don't pay enough to cover it. We got to talking after work, led to this."

Of course it wouldn't be something simple.

The man grew more agitated as he checked my last pocket, "He's telling the truth, doesn't have a damn thing on him."

The man with the knife cursed under his breath, "Think his clothes would sell?"

"Pawn shops won't take it, nobody is buying this stuff second hand."

Another muttered curse. "What are your names?" I asked.

"Phil Robinson." "Jesse Becker." They responded in unison, not noticing anything strange about it.

"Well Phil, Jesse, is there an address I could have insulin shipped to? I understand it doesn't have the longest shelf life, so I could have it sent monthly." I said without thinking. As soon as I finished speaking, I realized that my plans to leave Earth were put on hold.

Nervousness and hope flashed across their faces, "Why?" Phil asked.

I didn't have a reason at first, it was just the first solution that came to mind. "Just want to help, that's all." I said.

"Are...Are you being serious right now? We were gonna rob you, and you're offering us help?" Jesse's voice was dripping with disbelief.

"Yeah I'm serious, I have the money and I'm not going to send you off to just mug someone else to get medicine for your loved ones." I explained, finally lowering my arms.

Phil tucked the knife into his pocket, "We aren't… we aren't really the types to do this. Well obvious we did do it, but this was a one time thing. We saw you go into the alley, just enough to get by until I can find a second job, this means the world, I just want to say." It took me a moment to process his clipped sentences, which devolved into half muttered apologies.

"So, do either of you have a pen?" I asked, and Jesse fumbled to withdraw a pen from his pocket. Taking the pen, I wrote down the address Jesse dictated to me on my wrist, repeating it back to make sure I got it right. "How soon are you going to run out?"

Phil glanced at Jesse, before speaking, "My wife has enough till Sunday, Jesse?"

"We only have enough for three days, might be able to stretch that out if you can't get it to us that soon." Jesse said.

"I'll have it to you tomorrow." I said, anxiety raising slightly as I committed to a time. What if I couldn't do it by then? The pair didn't seem to notice my anxiety, thanking me profusely. Phil stretched out a hand for me to shake and when I did reach for his hand he pulled me into a hug. Or rather pulled himself closer so he could hug me.

Phil was smiling as he left, Jesse looking like a burden had fallen from his shoulders and finally had a chance to catch his breath.

Maybe I could overhaul the insulin production here, get Lisa to shuffle funds and materials into manufacturing, pull some strings to keep the prices capped. That way I could leave, without driving them back to armed robbery to keep their loved ones alive. At the very least I could pay someone to do monthly deliveries.

The wood stairway above me creaked.

"Soooooo, how much of that did you see?" I asked Victoria, looking up at where she stood on the stairway out of her office. She shouldn't have been able to detect the mind control, at least I hoped she couldn't.

"They were talking about selling your clothes, thought I needed to step in." She said, three ring binder in her hand. "Are you actually going to send the insulin?"

"Yeah, kind of have to. Don't think I could sleep otherwise." I said, moving around to walk up the stairs. "Do you think I did the right thing there?"

"If they had been arrested the courts wouldn't even get to them, packed as they are. Yeah, I think you did." Victoria said. "Do you like chow mein?"

I was startled at the non sequitur, "Chow mein, yeah I like it, why?" I said, letting the alien influences to my physiology fade, my stomach's grumbling barely audible.

"I got some extra, in case you hadn't eaten. Let's talk." Victoria said, stepping into her office.

I followed her into the space, noting how Victoria had brought a second chair to her office in the time I had been away, a pair of to go containers set on the corner of her desk. Taking the new chair, I watched Victoria pull her chair from behind the desk so she could get closer.

Apparently she wasn't willing to wait until after eating.

"I understand that a lot of what was in that book is off limits. Civilian identities, personal information, about her and people around her." Not saying Taylor's name even. I knew there was a taboo around talking about Gold Morning but hadn't realized it had extended to Taylor herself. "That's fine. I just need to know how much you actually know about me."

I nodded, thinking back to where she had shown up in the story.

As I started talking Victoria took a deep breath, like she was about to jump into cold water. "The first time you showed up in Worm, that's what it was called by the way, the first book in the Parahumans series. The first time was an interlude of you going after some skin head who had assaulted a woman. You were rough, broke a few bones and called your sister to come heal him."

Victoria closed her eyes at the mention of her sister, keeping them closed for a moment, "Was the woman's name Andrea Young?"

"Sounds familiar, might have been." I said.

"Okay, what else?"

"The next time was the bank heist, from Taylor's point of view so it got the confrontation between you, your sister and Tattletale."

Another deep breath from Victoria. Slow, through her nose and out her mouth. I was thankful I didn't botch the sentence and say my sister.

"There was an interlude showing from one of the ward's views, I can't remember who, but it went over the aftermath of the bank heist. Then after Leviathan there was an interlude from Clockblocker's perspective where you called him out for being a dick to Vista."

I realized where that left me and paused.

"Do you really want to hear all of them." I said.

"I need to know." Victoria said, the mask was on, face emotionless, even mentally I couldn't detect turmoil breaching my barriers.

"There was an interlude from Amy's point of view, when Bonesaw tried to recruit her for the slaughterhouse nine, when she finally healed brains and what she did to you, and it covers what Taylor saw of the aftermath." I said slowly, giving her every opportunity to interrupt.

Images of the hospital, of Amy's face, of Crawler bearing down on Victoria flitted into my mind from hers. I didn't recognize the regenerating parahuman at first, because mere words could barely do his grotesque appearance justice.

"What else?" Victoria said tersely.

"There was an interlude from Jessica Yamada's perspective, on one of her sessions with you and a few others. After that, you were mentioned being at Gold Morning, but that played out a little differently than in the book." I neglected to mention why, she was welcome to assume it was my fault so long as the how was ignored.

Victoria nodded, standing up without a word and walking towards the window. She looked shell shocked, like she was considering flying out of the room at a moments notice.

"Do you want me to give you a bit of time? I know it's pretty intrusive to have your life's story known by a stranger." I said.

"Yeah." Victoria said softly, almost too quietly for me to hear. I considered asking for clarification for which of my statements she was responding to, but decided to get to my feet and start walking towards the door instead.

"Wait, sorry. Just give me a minute, you don't have to leave." Victoria said, not looking at me.

I didn't say anything, just quietly took the seat again, studiously avoiding staring at the woman or peaking at her tumultuous thoughts. Would she mind if I started eating? My stomach had been in too many knots to eat this morning and now that there was no chance of dating Victoria my appetite had returned with a vengeance.

I held off, Victoria returned only a little while later. "Who else knows about Worm?" Victoria asked.

"My sister, a couple of her friends who are basically family. I haven't told them about your part in it all." I said.

"Could you not tell anyone about what happened to me, or that I used to be Glory Girl?"

"Of course, I figured you were retired or something and I wouldn't share that kind of personal information." I said.

"Thank you," Victoria said. She stood by her chair, not willing to sit, standing in a pose that looked ready for a sudden burst of movement.

My stomach growled audibly, breaking the silence.

"Sorry." I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"It's fine, here." Victoria said, handing me a fork and a pair of chopsticks. My hand eye coordination had only gotten worse since getting powers so I stuck with the fork, taking one of the boxes filled with chow mein. Pork, beef and even chicken were expensive, no longer subsidized and barely able to meet demands, so hunted deer, rabbit and bison meat had filled the gap. Not bad, though the rabbit chow mein was just different enough from what I grew up with to feel off.

We ate in silence, Victoria still visibly processing.

As I neared finishing my food a thought occurred to me, "Did you know the second entity died due to texting while driving?"

"What?" Victoria said, with a little delay to finish chewing.

"Well, not literally. Before reaching earth Zion and Eden bumped into a third entity named Abaddon, they had an exchange of shards. There was a precognition shard that fascinated Eden and while she was playing around with it, she wasn't looking where she was going and crashed into a parallel earth." I said.

"And just for clarification, Zion is Scion, Eden is the other entity and shards are the agents, correct?" Victoria said.

"Yep, the person who reported Zion's name misheard, because he had trouble speaking. He wasn't meant to speak, just act like a warrior for the thinker, Eden, who would guide their cycle, and talk with the host species they had chosen, humans in this case. The entities think of themselves more like locations or concepts rather than individuals is my understanding."

"So the cycle, you said earlier it had to do with the heat death of the universe. What exactly is it for?" Victoria picked up her binder, flipping it open and began jotting down notes.

"Oh gosh, I'll need to get my notes to remind myself of the specifics, but the cycle started on a mud ball of a planet, where an organism developed the ability to slide between dimensions..."

Victoria's pen moved frantically across her note book, half finished meal forgotten on her desk. As I continued telling the story of the entities and their expansion across realities the details came back to me, and I had to back track a bit to fill things in. I told her about the older shards like Sting and their role in earlier conflicts, how an early species acted against the ancestral entity driving them to keep their influence secretive and how the Endbringers were originally intended to act as regional hazards, preventing certain groups from controlling resources or passing boundaries. She kept writing a little while after I finished talking and I kept silent in respect for her diligence. Finally she looked up.

"The entities, they were looking for conflict resolution skills the entire time?"

"Yeah, that and how to address a population with a nearly unlimited carrying capacity in a finite system. I wouldn't be surprised if Abaddon had figured it out, that they all needed to stop reproducing exponentially and any entities he encountered that hadn't come to that conclusion he sabotaged. It's all but confirmed Abaddon's involvement disrupted the cycle enough that humanity had a chance to fight back." I said.

"Why didn't he communicate that to Eden and Scion, or Zion that is? It would spread the message faster throughout the population." Victoria argued.

"True, though he did have the Path to Victory shard, it might have told him killing Eden was the most optimal outcome. Eden and Zion might have been too stubborn to convince, or by their very nature they reach for the most combative solution even when trying to achieve peace." I said.

"You need to publish this." Victoria said, gesturing with her binder. It took me a second to process the sudden switch of topics, taking me off guard.

"Oh, no. I'm good, I don't want any more public attention." I said.

"Write it under an alias, or I'd publish it if you don't want to." Victoria said.

"I will, someday. The sequel to Worm was supposed to start around this time. I'm not sure what I can do to help, but once those events are resolved I'll make everything available." I said.

"I thought you hadn't read it?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah… I hadn't, okay maybe I'm just procrastinating on becoming more of a public figure than the Gimel Hobo, but I do want to find the people who are going to be the main characters. There was a short set of interludes released building up to the sequel, all of them PHO posts and messages." I said. "Maybe I can prepare them, it seemed like they were a bunch of heroes setting up a new team. My guess is that they are going to be involved in the major events we are hurtling towards in the near future, just like Taylor was. Winter's going to be bad, and conflict with the other Earths seems inevitable."

Victoria nodded, glancing around the room. She set down her binder and took another from behind her desk. "I'm going to hold you to publishing the origins of the entities once we figure out who this team is. What do you remember?"

"There were ten, maybe a dozen chapters, starting from the first day the internet came back and ending before the school year started." I said. She said we. At least I hadn't messed this up badly enough that she didn't want me around, and she was willing to help.

"So six days ago." Victoria added.

"Right, and this was a story, so it was establishing the setting, showing threads that explained the state of the world after Gold Morning, giving a glimpse into public outrage. One touched on refugees and the state of Earth Bet." I said.

"Sound about right, I've been checking the forums and there are a lot of threads like what you describe." She said.

"I've been meaning to check as well, but I'm holding back on that until the internet is faster than passenger pigeon. I'll need to check the notes I wrote when I first showed up but there were eight or so people in this group I'd guess. One former villain, had a name related to flight, so I'm guessing a mover. One had been on a hero team before, though it seemed like they parted on bad terms, or maybe not, there was something weird going on with that chapter."

"Weird how?" Victoria asked. She had gone back to scribbling notes.

"Like old teammates went from hostile to super friendly the same day. Again, I'll need to check my notes, I can bring those sometime soon?" I said tentatively. Victoria nodded at that and I let slip a sigh of relief, she was willing to have me come back despite knowing her story.

"After that there was someone looking up multi triggers, their name was of5 so that could narrow down who they are quite a bit." I continued.

"I'll look into new hero teams with multi triggers in their roster." Victoria said.

"I don't think they've gone out yet. Some of the later messages made it seem like they were trying to set up a first time to go out or meet up to plan." I said, I considered bringing up the pair talking about college admissions, but decided not to. No need to rub salt in every single wound Victoria had. "There were two members that kept changing names, one of them was being harassed and kept changing their profile to avoid it. Which is pretty strange with how new the internet is. The other had a naming convention across profiles, animals and adjectives, stuff like that, and got a verified cape status based on how weird they looked in the photo they sent in. Oh and one I hadn't mentioned was definitely a tinker, doing some sort of software stuff, basic AI I think."

"So we might have a changer, former villain mover, tinker, a multi trigger, someone who has a lot of enemies, and someone who had a bad break with their old hero team. And we have sixteen days at most before all the messages are done and the events of the Worm sequel will begin?" Victoria summarized as she looked through her notes.

"Yep, there is an off chance that they are a villain team, but I have a feeling they aren't. I've been reviewing my notes in preparation for this, so I know I have a few more of their profile names. We could reach out to of5 at the very least, might be easier to do so with a retired heroine to support my claim of knowing they'll be important to the future." I said.

"Do you really want to do that? No offense, but if these people are going to be such a pivotal part of the future, wouldn't it be better to not tell them and let the events play out as they were?" Victoria asked skeptically.

What could I do? What couldn't I do if I was willing to pay the cost? Of course Victoria didn't know I could decide the outcome of any parahuman conflict, but that didn't really matter. I was going to leave the solar system. Okay, leaving the planet, I'd stick around this solar system in case I was needed. Just after I told my loved ones, set up an insulin delivery, prepared these heroes, published the story of the entities.

"If the sequel is anything like Worm was, these people are going to go through hell along the way. They deserve to know, and I'll do whatever I can to help." I said, certain I wasn't the best person to do this.

As soon as I finished my sentence, I noticed something, just at the corner of my perception. A flame, or a tiny spark rather. A bond between me and Victoria.

Lisa was right, she really wasn't interested in a relationship right now. The sensation was the tiniest I had perceived, probably lit by an idle thought or fancy. Normally when a person's thoughts triggered the bond, it would flare up enough that I would notice it immediately. If I so chose I could fan the flame, until that person could do nothing but think about wanting me. Well, this close Victoria would do more than just think.

I let it be.

"I know exactly where you're coming from. Let me reach out to of five, was their username spelled out or just the number?" Victoria asked.

"Just the number." I said.

"Alright, I'll send a message tonight, say I got word from a thinker about the group they are forming. Ask for a meet up?" Victoria's question hung in the air. I would be playing the role of the thinker, kind of true but a lie all the same.

"Yeah, sounds good. They might be cautious, sounds like they have a major kiss kill dynamic with their cluster and at least one of their cluster is hiring mercenaries to investigate them and possibly hunt them down." Including my sister. I had passed along the info that she would get a job offer around this time to find a cluster mate. She told me she had it handled, which didn't inspire that much confidence. Still, she wasn't the type to get a prospective hero killed.

"Good to know. And Fossil, I'm doing this as a patrol block member, not as a hero, retired or otherwise. The school might know who I am and is turning a blind eye by keeping me on but I'm not going to push my luck." Victoria said.

"Totally understand, if I was a parahuman I wouldn't want the public to know either. Helping people by giving them advice, support, that sort of thing is much more my speed." I said.

Victoria nodded, apparently satisfied with my response.

"So we've kind of wandered between topics, but I was wondering if you could still help me figure out what to tell the kids. Either which book to read, or now that things are more in the open between us, what you'd tell them?" I said.

"Yeah I can, so what I've found works best is to…"

"Patrol block doesn't give its members any info that the public doesn't already know, though there are a few libraries and book collections of the research papers on parahumans available to students." I said.

"So Chell was lying?" Archer groaned.

"I wasn't lying, Tim swore they were telling what happened." Chell said, standing to her feet, shoulders squared. It was kind of scary how many kids these days jumped straight to hostility. She was still the shortest of the group and probably wouldn't grow any more, but she could knock a person twice her size flat if she wanted to.

"Hey, lots of rumors about what goes on in Patrol block are bouncing around, they even mentioned a few when I talked with them. If you'd like I can drive you all after school and we can make a field trip of it, I'd love to sit back and read research papers all evening." I said with a grin.

Chell remained standing, turning to face me and I could tell she wasn't willing to do the research. Kim was still sitting on the edge of a grow bed next to her, looking between Archer and Chell, she didn't like being a tie breaker. Her face was partially hidden by black hair, in an attempt to conceal the latest batch of acne. I still hadn't found the brand of acne cream I had used long ago and didn't know how to approach the subject delicately.

Archer gave me a skeptical look, "Alright, I'll go." He said, calling my bluff.

Thankfully I had a back up plan.

"Sweet, I was hoping to have some company for the drive. The place we'd be going it down in Wayfair High."

"What? Like halfway to New York Central?" Chell asked.

"Yep! Four hour drive one way, assuming minimal traffic and bathroom breaks. It will be totally worth it, you should see the place, just a wall of binders and books. I could just live in there." The grin on my face was genuine, the little time I spent after my more serious conversations with Victoria was glorious. I had stuck with an early research paper on the first documented cases of parahumans, trying to disprove them as charlatans or con artists. Not much new info, but the insight into how the world responded at first was enlightening.

Archer gave out a long, pained sound, flopping back into the empty garden bed.

"You said you wanted.."

"I take it back!" Archer said, not sitting up right. His mom was going to chew me out if he came home for dinner with his back covered in dirt.

I wouldn't put it past him to be doing it for that reason.

"'Alright, I guess it'll be me and Chell." Chell shook her head. "Kim?"

"No thanks, thank you for offering the ride however." She said softly.

"You are very welcome. I suppose going myself won't be that bad." I said. I wouldn't have minded if they did want to make the drive out there in pursuit of knowledge, parahuman research was a path I'd much rather encourage than Patrol block. "Well, with that sorted, we need to decide what we are doing for the back to school party. I can provide the food if you all can handle decorations and contacting everyone."

The three perked up. Maybe it was unfair to put the work on them when all I did was summon a bunch of food, but these skills would be useful in their lives and as much food as they could eat was quite the prize these days.

I sat back as they took charge of the conversation, talking about who to invite, what decorations they'd need, who could bring what. This was the life I hoped to leave them with. None of the insanity that came with parahumans, just a bunch of kids having fun with friends and family, going to school, developing life skills.

I'd tell them about leaving after I got in contact with the hero team and set them up as best as I could. No point in opening that can of worms until the last moment, or they'd ask me questions I wasn't willing to answer.

Then, I could leave this planet for good.


End file.
